Only Trying To Help
by LaylaYuy
Summary: A mission to save mutants from Dr. Nathaniel Essex leaves Rogue with information that could save Gambit's life.  So she sneaks off to New Orleans to warn him.  Now she just has to convince Remy, both Guilds, and the X-Men that she's only trying to help.
1. Prologue

_This story picks up a few months after Cajun Spice and after the team has defeated Apocalypse. I have most of the story prewritten, but it may still take me a while to post. Between working full time and going to grad school, free time isn't something I have a whole lot of. But please read and review! I really would like to know what people think of this. Enjoy!_

_ Layla_

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><p>In the aftermath of Apocalypse the arrival of one business style envelope addressed to Rogue went easily overlooked. With just a few weeks left until her 18th birthday she'd already started receiving the myriad of credit card offers that came with legal adulthood. Had anyone been paying attention to the mail, they might have wondered about the lack of return address or noticed that the only name on the address line was Rogue, no last name. But with so many other things to focus on the envelope was simply tossed in with the rest of the similar looking letters intended for Rogue and forgotten.<p>

It another took two days for Rogue to bother tackling her Mt. Everest of junk mail. She tossed three new credit card offers in the trash with an eye roll that prompted Jean to grimace in sympathy. "Stupid credit cards," Rogue mumbled and reached for the next envelope.

Ripping it open with obvious annoyance, her eyes widened and her mouth fell open for just a moment before she schooled her face into a normal look of annoyed boredom. A quick glance around the kitchen confirmed no one had noticed her reaction. She quickly folded the envelope in half and slid it into the pages of the book she'd set beside her on the counter. Feigning apathy she went through the rest of the mail. "Nothing but junk", she muttered, just loud enough to be heard and ignored, before grabbing her book off the counter and heading calmly to her room.

She settled on the edge of her bed, pulling the envelope from between the pages. She dumped the contents on to her comforter and stared for a moment. Gingerly she picked up the playing card in her gloved hand. The back showed an image of a gold fleur de lys decorated with green jewels on a purple background. In case the post mark saying New Orleans hadn't been enough to tell her where he was, she could now confirm he'd stayed in Louisiana.

She turned the card over. The ace of spades. Gambit had told her he always saved the Queen of Hearts for last, but she'd noticed from their various encounters that he opened with the ace of spades. Wondering at his meaning, she set the card down and picked up the scrap of paper that was folded neatly in half. Scrawled in black ink were 3 lines.

_Well done, chérie.  
>Sorry I missed the party.<br>Should you need me, 504-555-5967_

Running her finger along the edge of the card, she briefly considered tossing both the card and the note in the trash. She hadn't forgotten that their last little adventure had been a well played game designed to gain her help or that it had started with him kidnapping her. And just because she understood why he had done what he'd done and stopped Logan from killing him didn't mean she'd forgiven him carte blanche for tricking her. But in spite of the conniving, she couldn't deny that somehow, amidst all the tricks, she'd had more fun on that little jaunt down south with him than she'd had in a long time. And he'd been right about her needing to leave and get away. It had helped her. She just had no plans to tell him that.

And he had felt bad about using her. That had actually been the thought she'd grabbed when his finger touched her cheek. The one that had pulled the rest of the disjointed fragments into focus. He'd known he needed her in order find Jean-Luc, but he'd not liked having to play her. He just hadn't thought she'd go along if he'd asked outright. And given their tumultuous history, Rogue couldn't exactly say he was wrong. Particularly given her frame of mind at the time.

It was the same circle she'd traversed every time she'd thought back to their trip. To like or not to like, that was her question. The fact that he'd not bothered to help them with Apocalypse nagged at her though.

She picked up the note and reread his words. Did '_Sorry I missed the party.'_ mean he'd been otherwise engaged and not considered the end of the world a high enough priority? Or was he being sarcastic and tossing back at her the lack of invitation?

That made her pause. Had anyone even bothered to ask him to come? She couldn't remember. She'd been so focused on working out the details with Logan and Nick Fury to get Mrs. Leech and Dorian to help that she hadn't even thought to mention him as an option to the others. And she doubted any of them had considered him, except maybe Piotr Rasputin, but he'd been a last minute arrival. And she'd not even been certain where Gambit was at the time. Piotr probably hadn't known either.

She hissed. He didn't even have to be in the same city, and he was confusing her. She should probably just burn both the letter and the card and casually mention to Logan that Gambit had made contact again like she'd said she would.

But she slipped the ace of spades into the frame of her dresser mirror, beside and just slightly behind the queen of hearts he'd given her. Since she and Kitty no longer shared a room, she didn't have to hide them. The letter she tucked into the nearly invisible pocket inside her cosmetic bag. It didn't show through the lining, and no one would think to look there. Just in case.

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><p><em>So Rogue isn't going to tell any one she knows where Remy is...hmmm.<br>_

_Chapter 1 should be up shortly._ _ Let me know what you think._


	2. Chapter 1

_And so the story begins. __Let me know what you think. I hope this is a slightly different take on some of the comic story lines. I'm currently beta-less. I tried to get as many grammar errors as I could, but please excuse the few I'm sure are scattered around. Also I speak zero French or Cajun French. I can muddle my way through Spanish, but not French, so I'm dependent on translators and web dictionaries. If I flub something horribly please let me know. I hope you enjoy, and please let me know what you think! Thanks!_

Layla

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><p>Her head was pounding and her stomach was threatening to send her running to the bathroom yet again. But she forced herself to stay seated and keep digging through the files. It was all she could do to help the team at the moment. The others were in at least as bad of shape as she was anyway. It was all hands on deck down in the med bay.<p>

Her trembling made the mouse jerk around as she opened the next file, taking in the actual name of the mutant Dr. Nathaniel Essex had labeled as Subject 120. Lorna Dane. She had powers strikingly similar to Magneto. And she'd been the poor girl on the table when Rogue, Logan, and X-23 had taken over Essex's lab. They'd been the distraction while the others focused on getting the prisoners out.

Even before pulling Lorna off the examination table, the whole thing had reminded her of her time with Trask. Those were memories she'd buried and buried well, but seeing Lorna and the others who had been subjected to Essex's experiments had brought every detail back to the front of her mind, and at the same time shown her how much worse her own experience could have been. It was a good thing she had something to work on through the night. She certainly wouldn't be getting any sleep.

Rogue made the appropriate notes in the file she was making before closing Lorna's file and sending it to the Med Bay. Unfortunately Beast, Jean, and the Professor needed the medical data in the files to know how to treat their twenty-five new patients. The twenty-five mutants who had been rescued were in varying states of mental and physical health, and their unpredictable behavior as they were treated made it too dangerous for Rogue to assist. So she was going through all the computers the team had bought back with them, cataloging Essex's cruelties and future plans for each of his victims.

After his capture, Logan had called in a favor with Nick Fury, getting the g-man to take Essex into custody. Maintaining control of the insane and highly dangerous geneticists didn't fall under the purview of the X-men. And while they didn't relish the idea of putting Fury and his S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives in charge, it was infinitely better than trying to handle him themselves.

"30 files down. Too many to go," Rogue muttered aloud, trying to pull her mind away from her memory of Essex's terrifying and entirely too arrogant and inquisitive gaze. After they'd finally taken him down, he'd spent the entire time waiting for Fury's arrival staring intently at her, and it had thoroughly creeped her out. She'd never met a more terrifying human.

She opened the next file, marked Subject 38, and looked up the mutant's name. Remy LeBeau. Distantly she heard the catch in her breathing as her heart stopped and then thundered. Essex had worked on Gambit?

She glanced at the picture stapled to the file. Staring dazedly back at her with glassy eyes was a roughly 16 year old Gambit. Her stomach churning to the point of pain, she read through the file. The beginning of the file established Gambit's reasons for coming to Essex in the doctor's cold and clinical style. Graphic pictures detailed the burns on this hands from where his burgeoning powers had exploded items without his control. Essex noted that Subject 38 and his father had believed the doctor could help the boy, but noted, for psychological purposes, neither had been told just what procedures would actually be performed. Essex was quite interested to see how Gambit would handle the upcoming tests both physically and psychologically. Over all Essex thought Gambit's power, combined with his past history, could prove extremely useful to Essex's future work. He had a focused interest in Gambit's unusual eyes.

Rogue skimmed through the medical jargon, glad she didn't fully understand what the words meant. The pictured they painted was somewhat fuzzy but terrifying enough without any added detail. After several pages of documentation on the performed experiments, Rogue was disturbed to see that the file hadn't ended. Gambit's survival of the procedures that had successfully allowed him to control his powers was eagerly commented upon, as was Essex's receiving of the money from Jean-Luc in payment.

But that hadn't been the extent of Essex involvement in Gambit's life. Essex coldly noted that he had informed Gambit that additional payment was required in the form of service. The file commented that Gambit had not reacted well to the additional cost. Essex had noted that threats to his family had prompted agreement more than threats to Gambit himself.

The remainder of the file noted Gambit's involvement in Essex's collection of new data. It appeared that Essex had found Gambit to be too much of a wild card to use in collecting new mutants to study, regardless of the threats employed. So the insane doctor had put Gambit's thieving skills to good use in acquiring research notes and samples from various sources.

There was a break in the dates between entries. A scanned in, handwritten note scrawled in heavy, and clearly angry, script stated that Gambit had slipped his leash and couldn't be found. Poking around his family had revealed that no one knew where he'd disappeared to and that trying to pressure theTheives Guild hadn't accomplished anything.

Rogue checked the dates. Gambit had dropped off Essex's radar just days before he'd made his first appearance with Magneto. He'd gone from serving one insane man to serving another. But even with all the trouble that he'd caused, Rogue personally figured Magneto had still been a significant step up from Essex. And it explained why Gambit had always laid low between Magneto's campaigns. Something she knew Logan and Scott had been curious about at the time.

The final entry in Gambit's file was dated that morning. Essex had received unconfirmed information that Gambit had been seen around New Orleans again. The last line of the file was a hyperlink of the words Scalphunter and Arclight_. _

For the first time since she'd started going through his files, Rogue was glad that Essex had meticulously interlinked all his files and recorded every little detail about everything. The hyperlink led her to a series of e-mail exchanges between Essex and someone named Scalphunter. Rogue started to snicker at the mutants chosen nickname, but stopped as the details presented themselves.

Essex had sent a total of $10,000 US to Scalphunter and Arclight via several off shore accounts to cover their expenses. He would pay them $100,000 when they confirmed the death of Gambit by bringing his unique eyes as proof to Essex. He noted a phone number that might or might not belong to the young thief.

With trembling hands Rogue scoured the rest of the e-mail for details. Essex didn't appear to care how they did the actual deed so long as Gambit was killed and his eyes and several blood samples were brought to him. A response message signed by Arclight confirmed receipt of the request and the money. He or she noted the departure time of a flight leaving Paris in two days, and stated that there would be no further contact between the parties until the final delivery was made.

Rogue checked the time stamp. It was only a twelve hours old. Scalphunter and Arclight were still in Paris. They had no idea the X-Men had taken down Essex and his lab. And they had gone dark in order to hunt Gambit. She looked again at the phone number Essex had provided. She couldn't remember if it was the same number he'd given her a few months ago, but it was at least vaguely similar.

With a surreptitious glance around the empty computer lab, she locked the screen and slipped quickly up to her room. Closing the door behind her she dug out the scrap of paper that Gambit had sent her. She folded it in half and put it in her pocket before retracing her steps down to the lower levels.

With a sinking feeling Rogue compared the number in her hand to the number on the screen. _504-555-5967. _They were same. Scalphunter and Arclight had Gambit's actual phone number. For a moment she debated just calling him anyway and trying to explain what she'd found. The two assassins hadn't yet left Paris. She could warn him before they were in the air.

She picked up the phone before caution made her hesitate. If it were Logan hunting someone, the first thing he would do would be to find away to monitor the phone line. Any incoming or outgoing calls would be recorded and used to establish contacts and behavioral patterns. If she called Gambit now, she'd be handing Scalphunter and Arclight the X-men on a platter. And she had no idea if their loyalty to Essex was strong enough to avenge his capture or if they were simply mercenaries for hire.

She put the phone down. If she couldn't call him then how could she warn him? She had no other way to contact him. But she couldn't just leave him to be killed. The thought of him having his eyes cut out made her sick. The idea of anyone's eyes being cut out was horrifying, but she had a thing for those eyes in particular, even if she had no intention of ever admitting it.

If she couldn't call him, her only other option was to go to him. Not that she knew where in New Orleans he was. And for all she knew he wasn't even in New Orleans right now. She could get all the way down there and still not be able to find him.

Her mental Julian spoke up. _I can find him_, the voice whispered. _Gambit can' hide from me._

She paused. Julian wasn't one of her more trust worthy psyches, and his hatred of Gambit was something she was well acquainted with.

_Why?_ She asked him. _You hate Gambit._

Mental Julian snickered. _If anyone gets to kill that salaud s'gonna to be me. Not some goon after his eyes. Creepy devil eyes._

Rogue mentally glared at Julian, but conceded that he might in fact know how she could reach someone who could warn Gambit. It would be making a deal with her own mental devil, but the brief absorption she'd gotten of Gambit had been mostly fragments focused on getting his father out. The touch had been short enough that she hadn't even pulled a coherent mental voice from him.

Not that she was complaining about that. The Cajun was annoying enough in person without having to carry a copy of him around in her mind. But at the moment having a copy of him would have proved useful, and certainly more reliable than trusting Julian to help her.

She glanced at the clock before sliding over to the safe hiding behind the painting in the wall. All members of the senior X-Men team knew that safe held multiple copies of identification and credit cards for each of them. Turning the heavy spin dial in the correct combination of numbers, she opened the safe, jumping at the metal _thunk_ it made when she rotated the handle to the open the door.

She carefully pulled out the stack marked with her name. She glanced at the ages before settling on the passport belonging to Anna Marie James. Anna James was almost 20 and had her own credit card with a reasonably high limit. She carefully placed the others back in the safe and closed the door, twisting the handle back into place and spinning the dial. She replaced the painting, being careful to make sure it was level before she moved back to the computers along the far wall.

She should really go tell the others what she'd found. Scott might not care and would probably say that Gambit could take care of himself. After all the X-Men had more than they could handle already without trying to take on the problems of former Acolytes. And as much as she would rage at Scott for being cold towards a former enemy, Rogue knew he would be right.

They were barely able to handle the mutants they'd rescued and all of students at once. Several of Essex's former patients were disturbed enough to require Logan and Piotr to keep them from hurting themselves and those around them. The professor and Beast were working with them, but it would be a long process before they could be returned to where ever they had been taken from.

Debating with herself about what to do, she pulled up the files Essex had kept on Scalphunter and Arclight. Both were combat experienced former Special Forces officers who had been dishonorably discharged after killing fellow soldiers. Both were wanted by the U.S. military on murder and desertion charges. Definitely not amateurs.

Clearly someone needed to warn Gambit what was coming. And if she couldn't do so by phone without giving both herself and Gambit away, then she'd just have to tell him in person. Pass the message along and nothing more. Fly down, tell him what he needed to know, and come back. She'd be gone only a couple of days at the most. Other than the files, she couldn't really help anyway. And in cases like this it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Her mental Logan, whom she had acquired in the attack on Essex base and while working on control, snorted. "You better at least leave me a message, Stripes. Or I might think the Cajun kidnapped you again, seeing as he's clearly kidnapped yer brain."

She nudged her rolling chair to one of the mansion's general purpose computers, and using some tricks that Kitty had taught he about masking location, booked a red eye flight from New York to New Orleans. The plane left in four hours. She would have to hurry.

She called a cab to pick her up at the closest Park N Ride location. She could leave her motorcycle there with raising too many suspicions. And she had cash hidden in her room to cover the cab fare. She disabled the lock on the screen, bringing Gambit's file back up to the center, displaying Essex notes so who ever came in looking would understand where she'd gone.

She scribbled a note on a sheet of printer paper while she printed Remy's file and the e-mails.

_I had to warn him. Be back as soon as I can. My bike is at the Park N Ride._

_-R_

She set the note on the keyboard, grabbed the printouts and ran to her room.

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><p><em>French words I hopefully used correctly...<br>_

_salaud - bastard, not as in a child born out of wedlock, but as in pain in the butt, rude, piece of crap  
><em>

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><p><em>So Rogue is running off to find Remy this time. Won't he be surprised... :-)<em>


	3. Chapter 2

_Good evening! I want to say Thank You! to everyone who added this story to their alert list and/or favorite list. I really appreciate your interest! And thank you to those of you who left reviews. Feedback and encouragement are always welcome. I actually managed to get all caught up on grad school tonight (probably the only time this semester it will happen), so I figured it was a good time to post another chapter. If the dog will let me stop petting her long enough, I might even post two. Again I have no beta, so please bear with any grammar goofs or typos I missed. Let me know what you think, and enjoy!_

_Layla_

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><p>With a glare at her now empty mug, Rogue forced herself to leave the little café across the street from the jazz club she'd been staking out all day. The taxi had left her on a nearly empty Bourbon Street just after seven am. Other than a few café's serving breakfast, she'd had few options at that hour of the day.<p>

Her eyes felt like sandpaper and no amount of mild scrubbing was going to get rid the mascara smears beneath her eyes. She desperately wanted a shower and nap. Thirty-six hours without sleep and airplane funk in her hair weren't doing good things for her temper. But she was at the mercy of Murphy's law. Aside from trusting her mental Julian, a personality that made her uncomfortable on a good day, she was stuck waiting at the only place she knew from experience Gambit liked to go.

Not for the first time that day, Rogue grumbled at her power's inability to absorb more than the very surface of Gambit's thoughts. Not that she wanted another distinct personality in her head, but it would have made this much easier.

No one was sure why she absorbed him differently, but Hank McCoy had a theory. Absorbing anyone gave Rogue a burst of energy in addition to taking a part of their mind and powers. But with most people, the energy surge was overshadowed by the presence of a new voice within her mind. As with computer games requiring multiple installation disks, the length the absorption and the number of times the person was absorbed dictated the definition the new personality possessed.

Two fairly long absorptions of Julian Boudreaux resulted in a well defined and strong personality. Since she had absorbed him with the intention of knocking him out both times, she'd copied a fair amount of his mind in the process. Unfortunately.

Berserker and Logan were both accidental absorptions. Ray was present but mostly indistinct, a mere shadow of the boy himself since she'd only gotten him once. Logan, on the other hand, had been helping her with some attempts at control, and as a result she had absorbed him several times even before the battle in Essex's lab. Each absorption was short, but frequency had resulted in a well defined mental copy of the man. Like Julian, his psyche was able to converse independently with Rogue, not just pass on disjointed memories and emotions.

But Gambit's personality was by far the vaguest of her collected psyches. She'd pulled his most immediate thoughts when she'd accidentally absorbed him but little else. There were no remnants of strange memories or the passing of emotions from him. But he'd left her system buzzing with energy like she'd just consumed several gallons of pure caffeine. Only Berserker came close to the same level of energy transfer, and it was a very distant second place.

But that was what had given Beast the idea. His hypothesis was that Remy's ability to change potential energy into kinetic energy left a kind of energy residue in his system, and that was what Rogue primarily absorbed. Beast also suspected that the residue, for lack of a better term, was what made Gambit's mind so hard for Professor Xavier to try and read.

But theories were no help to her now. There was no way the X-Men didn't know she was gone at this point. And she seriously doubted that Logan would let her stay gone for more than one night without dragging the team after her (if he even gave her that long). So she had just tonight to find and warn Gambit. And hopefully not cause any major issues with the Rippers. Her mental Julian kept hissing at her that his fellow Assassins would just love to use her to get to the Thieves.

The sun was starting to set as she stepped on to the street. Wednesday night in early November brought a mixed but medium size crowd, and Rogue moved anonymously between the people. She crossed the street, briefly pausing to gaze inside the jazz club before continuing on.

A rowdy group of college aged men headed for the club, one of the men brushing against her arm as he turned to speak to another. "Y're kiddin' y'self, LeBeau, if y' think dis is gonna go down smooth. Le Diable Blanc got his name for a reason."

Rogue's head snapped up and she spun back around. Without pausing to consider the risks, she blurted out, "You're a LeBeau? Does that mean you know Remy LeBeau? Gambit?"

Although she'd clearly startled them, surprise was only visible of men's faces for a fraction of a second before they looked her up and down, collectively taking her measure before answering. They didn't look impressed.

One of the younger ones broke out laughing. "Apparently we got one of his girls huntin' him down." He addressed Rogue. "Remy can't come out to play tonight, petite, but we be more'n happy to take his place."

Raising her hand to her hip she snarled back. "Ah ain't one of his girlfriends. Ah have some information for him, that's all. Once Ah pass that on, Ah'm leaving."

The dark haired man in the center of the group raised an eyebrow, clearly humoring her. "Information, you say. And just what is your name, petite?"

"Rogue," she said flatly.

That got their attention. "Rogue? De same Rogue dat helped Remy get mon pere away from de Rippers four months ago?" the same man asked.

She glared, trying to look nonplussed that they knew who she was. "Yeah. That was me."

"Well, well. We've heard quite a bit 'bout you, Chérie," he extended his hand for her to shake, a smooth smile gracing his features. "Name's Henri LeBeau. Gambit's mon petite frère."

Rogue took it cautiously, only half surprised when he turned his grip to place a kiss on her knuckles.

She didn't like the idea of Gambit telling these men anything about her. She could still remember the surprised but cunning tone in Jean-Luc LeBeau's voice after she took down Julian and Marius Boudreaux. '_She can do all that with just a touch of her finger?' _

Gambit had warned his father not to go down that path, but she didn't have much faith in the leader of the Thieves' Guild given what little she knew.

"Look, Ah don't have much time. Just tell me where to find Gambit, and Ah'll be gone."

Henri smirked at her. They might not have been brothers by blood, but Rogue could see enough similarities between the two to make her edgy. And she definitely didn't like him calling her 'chérie'. "If y' want to see Remy, you'll have to come with me. It ain't safe for him to be walkin' de streets just now."

Rogue snorted. "You have no idea."

Henri watched her for a moment assuming she was joking, before he nodded, taking her words at face value. "Den come with me." He turned to the others and he gently took hold of her arm, careful to avoid the sliver of bare skin between her gloves and the sleeve of her shirt. "You hommes can enjoy de evening if y' wish. It seems I have a surprise to bring to Remy."

With a snort, one of the men spoke. "Y fou if y' think we gonna miss dis."

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><p>French words I might have used correctly:<p>

homme: man  
>fou: crazy<br>frere: brother  
>pere: father<p>

_So she's accosted Henri and is on her way to met Remy...hmmm_


	4. Chapter 3

_Wow. Two posts in one night. This is a record! _

_Before everyone asks, my Remy has a slight accent but not much of one. The Remy in my head has the voice of the Remy in the Evo cartoon. So Jean-Luc, Marius, Julien, etc have the accents they have in the show too (heavier than Gambit's). Hopefully you guys still like this Remy anyway... :-)_

_As always, let me know what you think! And enjoy!_

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><p>She'd almost expected it when Henri insisted that they blind fold her once they were in the car. Not that it didn't annoy her. She just wasn't particularly surprised. Sitting in the center row of a large SUV surrounded by five men she didn't know from Adam with a blind fold tied around her eyes, she considered just how stupid she was being. Her mental Logan snarled in agreement. She was being extremely reckless. Granted Henri had apologized for the blind fold and hadn't tied it all that tightly, but still. This wasn't going to win her any points in the "well thought out, not personally dangerous plan" category.<p>

The drive didn't take long, but involved lots of turns and winding roads. The group remained silent; they clearly didn't trust her much more than she trusted them. When the car finally stopped and the doors opened the smell of swamp and bayou surprised her. She didn't think they'd driven that far from the French Quarter.

A hand moved behind her and removed the blind fold. Blinking to adjust to the new light level she looked around. The beautiful southern style mansion in front of her reminded of her the one in Blood Moon Bayou. It had the same sweeping elegance of times past that was at odds with the security patrols she could see making rounds.

With a charming bow, Henri offered Rogue his arm. Watching the way he moved and the smooth way he smiled at her, and the way the other men slid their eyes her way, Rogue began to wonder if Gambit's charm with women wasn't something he'd picked up from the family instead of his own personality. _Just what I need. An entire Guild full of charismatic Cajuns,_ she mentally grumbled to herself_._

The group escorted her through the front door and moved her quickly into a side sitting room. Henri gestured to one of the men, and he stepped out after winking at her.

Trying not to give the impression that the room impressed her, she leaned against the wall and crossed her arms, shoulders slightly hunched, setting her backpack at her feet. The other men arrayed themselves around the room clearly waiting to watch the show about to play out.

She heard him before she saw him. "What's so important y' can' stop smilin'?" Gambit asked warily.

Rogue took no small amount of satisfaction at his dumbstruck expression when he saw her. Ruby eyes widened in obvious shock. "Rogue." With a quick blink he recovered, his smooth smile and voice masking any further reaction. "Well, well, Chérie. What brings y' back to my neck of the woods? Miss me that much?"

Rogue rolled her eyes with disdain. "Keep dreamin', Cajun. Ah have some information for you." She reached down and pulled a folded stack of papers from her backpack. "And now that Ah've delivered that to you, Ah can go." When she straightened, he'd crossed the room and was watching her carefully, his eyes guarded but intent.

She handed him the papers and waited.

His reaction wasn't pleasant. Red eyes burning, he took hold of her arm, not hard enough to bruise, but close. "Where did you get this?"

Unimpressed with his temper she held his gaze. "Essex's lab in New York. We took him down yesterday. Ah found that," she gestured to the papers, "when Ah was going through his files. Check out the back. He's hunting you. And the two he hired to kill you went dark last night after agreeing to the hit. With the time change, they're leaving Paris in the morning. And they have your phone number."

Gambit kept his hold on her but relaxed his grip. Flipping the pages and reading one handed he went through the e-mails between Essex and Arclight and Scalphunter. "Marauders," he hissed before looking up at her, eyes appraising. "I think, Chérie, it's time you started at the beginning."

"Sounds like a good idea."

They both turned to see Jean-Luc standing in the doorway, his eyes focused entirely on Rogue. "So nice to see you again, m'mselle."

After moving her to a larger room, Rogue found herself seated on an old fashioned couch facing roughly twenty thieves, all of whom were watching her very closely. Gambit was propping up the wall off to her right, his arms crossed, and eyes going back and forth between watching her intently and watching his family wearily. Given his position Rogue couldn't tell if he was staying close as some sort of protection or if he simply wanted to be the first one to land a hit.

Jean-Luc finally spoke up, putting an end to the hum of curious chatter that had sprung up as soon as he'd told Rogue that's she wasn't to say a word until the necessarily people arrived. The last of the 'necessary people' was a dark skinned woman of indeterminate age whose dark eyes that made Rogue more than a little nervous. The petite, older woman didn't seem to fit with the men arrayed around her, but she obviously had their respect.

"Now, Ms. Rogue, why don' y' tell us just what brought y' here, and how it's connected to my son." Jean-Luc's voice was smooth, but she didn't miss the threat in his voice or his suspicious glare in Gambit's direction.

Not wanting to let him have the upper hand she fired back. "My family and Ah, you remember my family?" She gave him a fierce grin before continuing, making sure to hold his gaze as she spoke. "We heard about a man who was capturing and experimenting on mutants. His name is Dr. Nathaniel Essex. With the help of some friends we were able to locate his lab. We staged an assault and captured the man."

She looked away to hide her discomfort; even talking about it made her sick and brought up memories of her time with Trask. "We pulled 25 mutants out. Ages ranging from young kids to adults. He'd done extensive experimentation on all of them. We captured Essex and dumped him with S.H.I.E.L.D. The prisoners we brought back with us for medical care, along with Essex's files."

She glanced at Gambit out of the corner of her eye and continued. "Ah came across Gambit's file when Ah was going through the others. It led me to the e-mail chain about Essex hiring Arclight and Scalphunter. Ah came to warn him." She crossed her arms and gave Jean-Luc a blank stare.

It was Henri who spoke up first. "Y' obviously have Remy's number since you recognized it in the file. Why didn't y' just call?"

Rogue shot him an annoyed look. "Wolverine doesn't just hunt with his nose. He's former special ops too. You get a phone number, the first thing you do is track all incoming and outgoing calls for the weeks prior to set up patterns. If Ah'd called to warn him, a random phone call from New York right after hit goes out, that would have raised a few flags. Ah don't know how loyal they are to Essex, but if they find out he's been taken down, the X-Men are going to be the first place they're gonna look. No way in hell Ah was going to make it any easier for them to find us."

If she didn't know any better, she'd have thought there was approval and pride in Henri's smirk at her answers and not disdain. Either way, it made her more nervous.

"So you just hurried on down here to warn my son," Jean-Luc drawled, his words more statement than question. His eyes were narrowed, watching her closely.

Not enjoying being the center of attention, especially with the head of the Thieves' Guild watching her like he was waiting to trap her, she snapped back without thinking her response through. "Just 'cause Ah happen to like his eyes, don't mean Ah want them in a jar on my bedside table."

Crossing her arms over her chest and trying to will the blush out of her cheeks, Rogue wondered if she could have possibly given a worse response. No one was supposed to know she liked his eyes, especially not Gambit himself. So focused on trying to mask her embarrassment, she didn't notice the matching look of surprise on all the faces watching her.

It was the dark skinned woman who spoke up, pulling Rogue back into the conversation. Her accent was even stronger than the others. "Dey want his eyes?"

Rogue nodded without actually looking at her. "That's proof of death. His eyes and some blood samples. To be delivered to Essex's lab."

The woman spoke again, this time addressing Gambit. "Remy, dey gon'ta seek revenge for losin' der boss?"

Gambit shifted, finally looking away from Rogue, who was deliberately avoiding his gaze, to focus on Tante Mattie. "The Marauders are mercenaries. They only work for Sinister 'cause he pays them well. And they like the work. They enjoy hunting mutants. But if Sinister ain't there to pay 'em, it's not likely they'll stay."

Jean-Luc interrupted. "Why do you call him Sinister?"

He pushed off the wall lazily and moved to lean against the arm of Rogue's couch. "It's what he told me to call him. Never heard him called Essex except the first day we met with him, just Sinister."

"Will they keep after you if they find out their boss man ain't gonna be able to pay?" one of the men who'd been with Henri at the jazz club asked.

Gambit shrugged. "For anyone but me, non. But they have issues with me. Don' like that I found a way to slip my Marauder leash. They might let it alone, but I wouldn't bet on it. Especially if they come all this way before finding out."

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><p><em>Together again in New Orleans. With assassins on the way. why is everyone so suspicious of Rogue's motives?<em> _All this and more next time._


	5. Chapter 4

_Happy Friday all. I just want to say thank you to everyone who has taken the time to review, add this as a favorite story or put it on alert. You all are awesome! Here is the next chapter, and probably the only one I will get around to posting this weekend. As always let me know what you think and enjoy!_

_Oh, and I forgot to mention this before, but I don't know X-Men, Marvel, or really anything besides my Giant Schnauzer and engineering textbooks. If you're that desperate I'll share the books. But not my dog. ;-)_

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><p>He found her on the veranda, sitting in the shadows created by the spacing of the overhead lights. She had her arms wrapped around her legs, which she'd pulled up on the seat of the bench. Etienne was guarding her, leaning against the railing and smoking a cigarette. Both doing were doing an admirable job of ignoring the other.<p>

With a nod of his head, Remy sent Etienne back inside, but not without his cousin giving him a warning glare first. Remy rolled his eyes in annoyance and moved to face Rogue. He kept his distance, resting his elbows on the railing behind him and crossing one straight leg over the other. Directly in front of her, he now blocked her view of the yard.

For a moment neither of them spoke, but Rogue's eyes watched him warily from beneath her lashes, her head still resting on her knees. "Have they decided if they believe me yet?" she asked not trying to hide her annoyance.

Remy gave her a tight smile. "Not yet, Chérie. They'll double and triple check your work before they believe this ain't an elaborate escape attempt I set up."

She lifted her head, tilting it to the side as she considered him. "What do they think you're tryin' to escape from?"

He shook his head. "Better that you don't know, Rogue. The less you get involved with all this, the safer you'll be." As glad as he was to see her, and to know that she was doing alright, she couldn't have picked a worse time to come back into his life.

She glared at him. "I'm not tryin' to get involved in anything. I just came to warn you. I'd planned on bein' back on a plane by now."

Remy gave her a confused look. He'd have thought she'd taken all the information she'd when they'd touched. "You absorbed me that night. Why didn't you just use my memories to send me a message?"

He watched her face as she debated what to say and couldn't resist teasing her. "You miss me that much?" He chuckled at her instant glare, his first real laugh in he couldn't remember how long. When she didn't answer, he prodded again. "Why take the risk?"

She gave him one last good glare before answering. "Ah …Ah absorb you differently. Ah get your most immediate thoughts, but it's mostly just energy. Other than what Ah got about your plan to rescue your father Ah didn't actually get anything that night. Ah'd have to really hold on to take more."

"You can hold on to me anytime." The flirty phrase was more habit than intentional as he thought about her answer. "It work that way the first time?"

Rogue glanced away, a blush on her cheeks. "Ah don't even remember the first time. Ah wasn't sure Ah'd actually absorbed you, since the others had all left imprints and you hadn't."

He smirked, unable to resist provoking her. "And yet you seem pretty certain of it now."

The glare was back. "Ah found out when Apocalypse pulled all my psyches. When he took them, Ah got the last couple of thoughts from each of the mutants Ah'd absorbed."

He grinned. "You got the good ones then. Ain't everyday Rogue plays the bad girl to steal a kiss from moi." He wondered if she knew she'd been caught on camera or that he'd kept a copy.

"It wasn't like Ah knew what Ah was doing anyway!" she defended angrily, the blush not just covering her cheeks, but starting to edge down her neck.

He couldn't resist teasing her more. She was beautiful when she blushed. "You're forgetting that Mesmero put the kibosh on me too, Chérie. He gives you a goal and then let's you do what you need to get the job done. He ain't the reason you kissed me. That was all you." His empathy had picked up enough during their assorted encounters for him to know his attraction wasn't entirely one sided.

She came flying off the bench, jabbing one gloved index finger into his chest, green eyes blazing with anger and embarrassment. "Don't flatter yourself, Cajun! Everyone knows your reputation. Ah probably just did that to hold your attention so Ah could absorb you. It obviously worked."

Remy made sure his smirk stayed perfectly in place as he shifted his weight to press his back against the railing and cross his arms over his chest. "Whatever you need to believe, Chérie." He gently took hold of the hand she was now trying to pull away from him and raised it to his lips. "Anytime you want a kiss, all you have to do is ask."

Their eyes met and held for just a moment. He looked away, and she pulled her hand sharply out of his. "Keep dreamin'."

Rogue took several steps backwards, putting space between them before she sat down on the bench again, carefully not looking at him.

He shouldn't have offered her that. He wasn't a free agent any more, or rather wouldn't be in a few days. He enjoyed getting a rise out of her, but he didn't want to purposely play with her emotions in that way. He'd hurt her enough without adding to the list.

Caught in the beam from one of the porch lights, he could see the shadows under her eyes and her normally dark, precise make-up appeared smeared and faded. She muffled a yawn behind her hand in spite of her anger.

For the first time since she'd surprised him inside, he really looked at her, taking in her exhausted face and rumpled clothes. Her hair hung limply and her shoulders drooped. "Hell , Chérie, when was the last time you slept?" he asked.

She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes before looking away. "It's nothing. Ah'm fine."

Remy rolled his eyes. "Not the question I asked." When she still didn't give him an answer he tried again, taking a calculated guess. "When did you hit the lab?"

"Yesterday morning. We wanted to make sure he'd be there."

"And you haven't slept since," he stated.

Her eyes narrowed, and she challenged "Can you blame me?"

Remy was the one to look away, gazing out at the swamp surrounding the house. "Non. Not in the least." He doubted he would sleep tonight either. Bringing up Sinister always meant nightmares for days. "I'm sorry you had to get mixed up with him, Rogue," he said quietly.

She looked up at him cautiously, measuring his sincerity. Whatever she saw made her continue. "Ah could say the same to you. And Ah'm sorry for going through your file, and that your family saw it too. Ah know Ah wouldn't want anyone to see the one Trask has on me."

Remy winced. "Not that it matters, but we didn't know Trask would take you. Pete, John, and I. Magneto didn't tell us about that. We actually put together a plan to get you out. We'd just gotten it all in place when we heard you were back. Took us a while to figure out where he'd taken you."

Her eyes narrowed, her gaze calculating, she was silent for a long moment before she nodded. "Ah believe you." She sounded almost surprised we she said it.

He tipped his head in thanks, accepting her cautious trust. Not wanting either of them to dwell on Sinister and Trask any longer, he reached out and gently pulled her in the direction of the house. "C'mon. Can't help you sleep, but we can at least offer you a shower and some food."

She resisted just long enough to grab her backpack, which she'd wisely not let out of her sight since her arrival, before letting him lead her inside. "You trying to tell me something there, Gambit?" she asked with a smirk.

He returned it, giving her a slight bow as he directed her upstairs. "Just showing you a little Southern hospitality, Chérie. You can use Mercy's room. I think she's got some clothes dark enough to fit your usual tastes."

She smirked at him.

"And the name's Remy, Chérie. I think after all this, you can use it." He stopped outside of a room with a closed door. "I'll send Mercy up to help with clothes."

As she stepped into the room, he couldn't resist one quick glance over his shoulder. Wondering once more why they always seemed to be on opposite teams when they had so much in common, he went in search of his brother's fiancé.

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><p><em>No French in this chapter really. But there will be some next time. Extra special thanks to Hope Hannigan for offering to help me!<em>

And just why isn't Remy free to flirt with Rogue? What will Rogue think about that when she finds out? Stay tuned to find out.


	6. Chapter 5

_Everone give Hope Hannigan a round of applause for helping me with my French sentences! Without her they would have been waaay too formal and confused. Also, I apparently can't keep my chapters at even lengths, so this one is significantly longer than the others, but I just couldn't quite break it up. This will probably the only post I get out this week. It's going to be very crazy. But I hope you enjoy it! Please, let me know what you think. Feedback is always appreciated. And thanks so much to all of you who have alerted/favorite/reviewed! It's so awesome to know you all are enjoying this! Have a good week!_

_ Layla_

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><p>Rogue had just finished pulling her makeup and brush out of her bag when a quiet knock sounded against the door. "C'min," she called.<p>

The blonde woman who entered wasn't what Rogue had expected. She smiled warmly at her, her blue eyes welcoming. "It's about time dey let you have a few minutes to freshen up." She shook her head. "Dey may be great thieves, but dey're still men."

Rogue snickered. "It's good to know it's not just the X-men males who are like that."

Mercy grinned. "It's common to all men. Remy said y' might need some clothes. What can I get y'?"

Rogue glanced at her backpack. "Ah wasn't planning on staying overnight. Ah just brought stuff to wash my face and such."

Mercy nodded. "If de Guilds were bein' reasonable, your plan would have worked. But reason's de last t'ing on everyone's mind right now." She walked over to the closet and started going through the hangers. "How do y' feel about yoga pants?" she asked holding out a simple dark grey pair.

Rogue nodded. "They're fine. Thanks."

Mercy stepped back and took in Rogue's dusky grey ballet top and tank top before turning back to her clothes. "Here's a black tank and try this." She held out a short, fitted plum colored hoodie.

Rogue took the offered items, glad to see that none of the clothes were too far from her normal attire. She'd have taken them either way, but it was still nice not have to look too much like someone else. "Thank you. Ah appreciate it."

Mercy smiled at her. "De rein. It's nice to meet a real friend of Remy's." She sat down on the bed. "Jean-Luc made me promise I wouldn't leave you alone up here, but take your time. Don' let me rush you, and feel free to use any of the things in the shower.

Rogue gave Mercy a small smile and slipped into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

'Thank you, Lord, for small favors,' she though as she stepped into the shower. The hot water felt wonderful. Nothing made her feel grungier than airplane funk. Taking her time and relishing the few minutes with nothing but water and soap on her skin, she allowed herself a few moments to just relax.

Letting her mind unwind, she replayed the conversations she'd had since arriving at Gambit's home. Given the secrecy required to run something like the Thieves' Guild, she knew that there were a lot of things they weren't telling her. But something had been nagging at her. Everyone seemed unusually tense at her arrival, referencing something involving Gambit. 'Remy', she reminded herself, 'his name is Remy.' Her inner Logan snorted.

She wondered what could possibly be going on that his family would think he'd staged a contract hit on himself for the purpose of bringing her down here. Or maybe they thought he'd used her to deliver the message to make it look real? Either option seemed extreme, even for Gambit. But then Mercy had just said that no one in the Guild was thinking clearly. She knew he wasn't going to tell her anything else, but maybe Mercy would.

She stepped out of the shower and toweled off before slipping into the clothes Mercy had loaned her. At least she'd though to bring a change of underwear with her. Borrowing that would have been mortifying.

She quickly combed out her hair. The Louisiana humidity was already making the curl standout. And without her normal array of hair products she was going to have to live with the crazy curl look. But it was clean. That was what mattered.

Her eye shadow matched the purple of the hoodie almost perfectly. Makeup had always been a sort of battle armor to her, and it was a relief to have it back in place and not half worn away. The sleeves of the sweatshirt were ¾ length, leaving a small gap between the cuff and her gloves, but it wasn't much. And the band of skin at her waist was no more than normal.

She tucked her makeup and brush into her backpack along with her dirty clothes. Taking the time to brush her teeth and then wipe up the water drops on the counter she opened the door and walked back into Mercy's bedroom.

The blonde was still stretched out on the bed, her attention focused on a book. She smiled when Rogue walked in. "Feel better?"

Rogue gave her a small smile. "Yes. Thank you."

Mercy waved it off. "Tante Mattie stopped by. She said if we take your dirty clothes down, she'll make sure they're washed and ready before morning."

Rogue paused, "I guess I'm not going anywhere tonight then." When Mercy shook her head in confirmation, Rogue sighed. "Might as well not have to take your stuff with me when Ah go." Figuring it couldn't hurt to see what Mercy would say she decided to take advantage of being alone with the other woman.

"Mercy, why does everyone think Ah'm trying to help Remy escape from something?" Seeing Mercy's eyebrows raise, she added at the end. "Ah understand if you can't tell me. Ah'm just wondering is all."

Mercy sat up, setting the book down and eyeing her carefully for a long moment, looking for the first time like she belonged with the thieves downstairs. "Y' really don' know." She said softly.

Rogue gave a bewildered and disgruntled look. "Other than what Ah found in that file, Ah don't know anything."

Mercy gestured to the bed, and as Rogue settled, she started to explain. "I gather you know at least a little about the feud between the Thieves' Guild and the Assassins Guild?" At Rogue's nod, she continued. "Well after the damage your family inflicted on the Rippers, Marius and Jean-Luc have been trying to broker a deal. It's getting' mighty expensive to keep up business and be warrin' wit' each other. The agreement was that Remy would marry Bella Donna, since dey're both second children of the Guild heads. Deir marriage would unite the families."

Rogue's confused look made Mercy stop. "What?"

Ignoring her own thoughts on Remy getting married to anyone, she clarified, "Ah thought Bella Donna was Julian's girlfriend. Well, she was the girl Julian wanted as his girlfriend the last time Ah was here."

Mercy looked pained. "Y' sure about dat?"

Rogue nodded and tapped the side of her head. "Ah absorbed Julian twice that night. He's pretty loud up here sometimes. Although he's bein' strangely quiet now."

Now Mercy looked confused. "Y' take thoughts when y' touch people? Remy made it sound like you just knocked dem out." She continued before Rogue could answer. "Actually don' tell me. If Remy don' want us to know, it's better that I don'." She paused before giving a warning. "Truth, don' tell nobody. Safer for y' dat way."

Rogue nodded wearily. Apparently he had been protecting her, but rather than consider that she pushed on the issue of Remy marrying Bella Donna. "So Remy's supposed to marry Bella Donna." It was a flat statement. That was definitely not an option she'd considered. Her attraction to him aside, that just didn't seem to make sense.

Mercy winced again, "Yeah. She's Marius' daughter. Julian's younger sister."

"Oh. Oh! Gross! Ah think Ah need to wash mah mind out with bleach." Rogue's accent thickened in disgust and she reached up and rubbed at her temples. "Ah'm gonna have more nightmares, Ah swear."

"We had our suspicions. But ouias, I agree. Bella Donna don' feel the same way, do she?" Mercy asked the question, wincing, with only one eye open, as though she didn't really want to hear the answer.

Rogue shook her head. "No. At least the last time Ah saw him, she wasn't interested or really even aware of it at all."

"Bon. At least the famille don' have to have to worry about dat." Mercy looked more than a little relieved.

"So if the family thinks he's trying to run, Ah take it Gambit doesn't want to marry her?" Rogue returned the conversation to her original question.

Mercy glanced down and traced a design on her comforter while she considered her answer. "I'm not sure he wants to be here at all. Can' believe he even came back in the first place. And this will forever tie him to the Guild and to Bella Donna."

"He came back to help his father." Rogue murmured, recalling their conversations from that time. How Remy hadn't wanted to return, but hadn't been able to leave his father in the hands of Marius and Julien.

Mercy nodded, looking off to the side. "He's a damn good thief, but he's got a real sense of honor. Can' walk away when family needs his help. Fewer of the thieves feel dat way these days, with all de fightin' b'tween de Guilds and de families. I t'ink dat's why Jean-Luc is pushin' so hard for de truce. Tryin' to get some of dat gentlemen's honor back." She looked back up at Rogue. "But no, I don' t'ink Remy wants dis. But he knows what it means if he backs out, so he isn't sayin' anyt'ing."

Rogue nodded, but her thoughts were interrupted by a knocking at the door. At Mercy's bidding, Henri entered, an air of tension coming with him. "Word's gotten back to the Rippers. Dey're here to ensure the negotiations don't fail. You both need to be there." He turned to Rogue. "My apologies now for any insults they send your way, but we need you to not return them."

Rogue nodded, not happy about having to see the Boudreaux men again but wondering if Bella Donna would be there. She was curious about Remy's future wife.

The two women followed Henri downstairs, Mercy slipping her hand into Henri's as they stepped outside into the clearing in front of the house.

Rogue found the setting eerie. Thieves and Assassins were everywhere, standing in a loose circle with Marius and Jean-Luc in the center. Henri led Mercy and Rogue to stand beside Gambit, who was leaning lackadaisically against a tree, his arms crossed carelessly over his chest. His eyes, though, were alert, taking in every detail, looking weary and worn.

Rogue stayed slightly off to the side, trying to avoid associating herself with him any more than she had to. If he planned on staying to help his family, she did not want to get in the way if she could help it.

Marius began speaking as soon as they arrived. He spoke loudly, letting his voice project to all those listening. "We've heard rumors dat young Gambit's tryin' to run from de Guild again. Our peace talks are only good if he stays. What part of these rumors be truth?"

Jean-Luc answered calmly. "Remy ain't runnin' from de Guild or de upcoming marriage." He paused a moment before continuing. "But we have received information dat a former associate of his has hired two professionals to kill him."

Marius' face showed no surprise or emotion in spite of the murmurs that struck up among his assassins. "You do not believe we are a part of this contract?" Marius confirmed.

Jean-Luc shook his head. "Dis matter has nothing to do with your Guild. De two hired to perform de hit work for de man who placed it. Dey are expected to arrive from Paris in the mornin'."

Marius turned, eyeing Rogue as he spoke. "You were able to confirm the fille's information?"

Jean-Luc nodded, but Rogue noticed he was getting tired of demurely answering Marius' questions. "We have. De threat is real, and both hunters are mutants."

Both men were silent for a few moments. "He will have to leave town to avoid attractin' attention." Marius conceded finally. "But perhaps our peace does not have to wait while the situation is dealt wit'." He gestured to someone with his right hand.

A young woman stepped forward, her blonde hair in several braids and knives on her belt at each hip. In the dim light, it was hard to see her face, but she looked serious and calm and beautiful.

Jean-Luc nodded. "Yes, dey shall be married tonight. It will be fast, but after dis situation has been dealt with, we can have a more formal ceremony."

At his father's glance, Remy stepped forward. To Rogue he seemed stiff and edgy, as though his body was moving against his will, but he said nothing and looked only at the young woman.

Jean-Luc moved to place Remy's hand over Bella Donna's, when a half crazed shout tore through the somber proceedings. "No mutant will _ever_ lay a hand on Bella!" A loud, plastic sounding pop filled the air.

Heads jerked to look at Julien, who stood off to one side holding something like a dart gun pointed at Gambit and an enraged expression on his face. "Dat's why de freak is being hunted! Because he's a mutant. For her honor, I contest Gambit's claim to Bella Donna."

Rogue whipped around to face Remy, dread settling in her stomach at the sight of a dart sticking out of the side of his neck. He moved to answer Julien's challenge, only have his knees give out, sending him stumbling to ground.

Henri saw his brother go down and immediately stepped forward to take Gambit's place. "You _salaud_! You defy de honor of a Guild challenge by drugging Remy! I will fight in his place!"

Rogue glanced at Mercy's pale face as she turned to see Julien's reaction.

"Non," he stated smugly, arms crossed over his chest. "The challenge was issued first. He must fight." Arrogant malice glittered in his eyes.

Marius looked furiously at his son, ""Imbécile! Sais-tu ce que tu as fait?" (You fool! Do you know what you've done?)

Julien grinned. "Never will Bella Donna be bound to that mutant trash!"

The group stood still and deathly silent for a moment, dread obvious on the faces of the thieves. Rogue tried to follow the conversation and silence the manically laughing Julien inside her head. _He must fight. As de one challenged to fight, he must. Drugs and all," _mental Julien hissed in glee.

"_What is the penalty for losing?" _Rogue asked the psyche.

"_Death." _It was followed by more wicked laughter.

Seeing Gambit laying on his back, unmoving save for his eyes, which glowed with rage and no small amount of fear, Rogue waited to see if any of the Thieves would intervene.

Bella Donna ran toward Julien, grabbing one arm and trying to pull him away. "Tu seras bani pour ceci! Tu dois t'enfuir maintenant! Si tu le tues, les voleurs te tueront!" ("You will be banished for this! You must run now. If you kill him, the thieves will kill you!" )

Using Bella Donna's movement as a distraction, Rogue ripped off her right glove and covered the two steps to Remy's side and knelt. She'd come too far to let him die like this. And like hell she'd let Julien be the one who did it.

Remy's red eyes blazed with determination as she brushed her hand against his cheek. The burst of energy was nearly instantaneous, but she felt a slight shift and his personality began streaming into her mind. She could hear Julien all but toss Bella Donna away from him. She held on for another moment, ensuring she pulled not just his power but enough of his personality to know the rules of Guild duels. In a blink Remy's psyche settled in her mind, and she let it stay near the front, allowing him to strongly influence her reactions and help her control his powers.

She kept her face tipped to the ground, carefully reaching into his coat and palming a deck of cards and wrapping her left hand around his collapsed bo staff, all with Remy's thieving grace.

Julien stopped a few feet away. "Move it, putain. I'll deal wit' you later. It's time for Gambit to fight."

"If you want to fight Gambit," she snarled, her accent thick as molasses, "then fight Gambit!"

She saw him pale as she faced him with Gambit's trade mark eyes. She smirked Remy's smirk and in her right hand flipped up two cards. She charged them enough for everyone to see the magenta glow before tossing them at Julien. They landed on either side of the man, their small explosions enough to convince everyone that she truly possessed Gambit's power. "Let's dance, homme," she drawled in Remy's distinctive Cajun accent.

A vicious grimace mangling his features Julien pulled his own bo staff. "Fine. I'll deal wit' his petite whore, and den I'll kill Gambit." He charged forward swinging his staff at her knees.

Rogue jumped, surprised at how Remy's natural agility augmented her own. She used her staff as a pivot, rotating above Julien's swing, and using her momentum to twist around and drive her feet into his side.

Julien rolled with her kick, coming back to his feet, but holding his ribs on the side she'd hit.

Rogue could feel her eyes glow as she feinted left, forcing Julien to stretch his wounded ribs, before she brought her staff up, slamming it into his shoulder.

Startled when Remy took control of her body, Rogue was thrown to the ground, the dagger Julien threw at her just grazing the side of her neck before embedding itself in the tree immediately behind where she'd been standing.

With a grimace she launched herself forward, using the staff for leverage, hurtling her body at Julien. She slammed into his knees at an angle, driving him painfully to the ground. Remy had her moving almost immediately, standing to slap the end of her bo down on the medallion tied at his throat.

His grin gracing her features, she charged the medallion, but maintained contact with it, pushing hard enough to make breathing possible but uncomfortable. "Bang," she drawled, "You're dead." She assumed the words came from Remy given his psyche's smug sense of victory.

When Julien tried to swing his legs around to knock her over, she kicked him in his wounded ribs.

Henri and one of the other thieves came up on either side, holding Julien in place as she removed the charge from his necklace. They wrestled the assassin to his knees, his arms pinned behind his back and the four faced Marius and Jean-Luc.

Remy's psyche told her to kneel on one knee, bo staff held out the side. _It's a formality, chérie_, he said, when she resisted. _Let them acknowledge you as the winner._

_You keep bowing to them, Bub, and they aren't gonna let you go. _ Logan's mental self stated.

Mentally she could imagine Remy shaking his head. _Trust me on this, Rogue. End it formally. And then whatever happens with the peace accord can't be blamed on you._

With a mental grumble both she and Logan gave in. With her head just slightly bowed, she dropped to one knee before Jean-Luc and stayed silent.

The king of thieves was far from amused as he addressed Marius. "Y' either sent your son to kill mine, or he has betrayed y' in front of witnesses. Which is it?" he demanded.

Rogue could see Marius' hand clench before he spoke. Mentally Remy whispered in her ear. _If he says Julien acted against the Guild, Julien will have to be killed for his treachery and Marius 'll lose face with some of his own people for not defending his son. If he says it was sanctioned, the peace between the Guilds is dead in the water. He's screwed either way._

When Marius spoke he sounded as though he'd choked and couldn't breathe. "Julien acted alone." Julien snarled in outrage at his father's words, but Marius continued as though he hadn't heard it. "De war between de Guilds has nearly paralyzed bot' our businesses. We want this peace. Bella Donna agreed to dis marriage willin'ly. As did your boy. While I find de interference of de girl an insult to Guild rule, it was no more than de one Julien inflicted."

Sounding less smug than she had expected, Jean-Luc clarified Marius' decision. "You declare Bella Donna to be de heir to the Rippers' rule of de Assassin's Guild?"

"I do." Marius paused, and Rogue could hear him swallow even over her pounding heart and elevated breathing from the fight. "We will have to find another way to unite de Guilds. It will not do to have our heir marry a second prince. De marriage would be unequal."

"Perhaps business instead of blood," Jean-Luc proposed. "Clearly we both have internal matters to see to tonight. Send a message when you are ready to continue negotiations."

It was obviously a dismissal, but Marius took it without comment.

Still keeping her eyes on the ground at Jean-Luc's feet, Rogue saw two sets of male legs step up and take over holding a half crazed Julien. They dragged him away, shouting insults at Rogue and Remy.

It was not until the clearing in front of the Thieves' mansion was silent that Jean-Luc addressed Rogue. His voice a mixture of irritation and vague amusement he asked, "Am I talkin's to my son or to the Rogue?"

"Both," she answered honestly still able to feel Remy's power at her finger tips and his mind blending with her own and not mostly separate like her other psyches.

"Stand up," he directed. When she'd complied, he looked her in the eye, barely holding in a wince at seeing Remy's glowing eyes staring back from her face. "It seems we owe you a second time for pullin' dis family out of de gator's mouth." His eyes hardened. "What it is you want in exchange?"

A flash of annoyance that was all Rogue pushed Remy's psyche a little farther back. Her fisted hand landing on one hip she glared, her accent thicker than they'd heard before, she snarked back. "For the last time, Ah don't want nothing from any of you! Ah just came to tell Remy that Essex was tryin' to have him killed. End of story. And now that Ah've done that, Ah'll be on my way."

Jean-Luc watched her carefully for a long moment before his eyes flicked over to Gambit's prone form. "How long will he be unconscious?"

Rogue gave an uncomfortable shrug. "Ah don't know exactly. Several hours."

With an appraising look, he gestured to Henri and the other man who'd been holding Julien. The two moved to pick up Remy and carry him into the house. Turning to go inside himself, Jean-Luc tossed a final comment to her. "You'll stay until Remy wakes up."

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><p>French words not already explained in the text<p>

Putain: whore (Julien isn't very nice at all!)

Ouias: Yeah

Salaud: bastard

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><p><em>So... Remy's not getting married anymore. Julien is supposed to die. And Rogue can't leave until Remy wakes up. What will happen when Gambit wakes up? Stay tuned to find out<em>!


	7. Chapter 6

_Happy weekend to you all! I would have posted this last night but FFN was having issues. Thank you all for all of the reviews, alerts, and favorites. I hope you all continue to enjoy the story. _

_As always, I don't own the X-Men or Marvel. Just the Giant Schnauzer doing her Scarlett O'Hara impression on he couch beside me. _

_Hopefully I will get another chapter up this weekend. Let me know what you think!_

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><p>Meanwhile, back at the X-mansion...<p>

It was late. After dinner late. Past midnight snack late. Late enough that if Logan came in and found her still checking her e-mail she'd end up with extra Danger Room sessions. And she didn't even want to think about his reaction to finding Piotr in her room at a time like this. Granted he wasn't with her for any of the typical teen late night reasons, but she wasn't sure she'd be able to convince Logan of that before he sliced and diced Petey.

"It is time to tell them, Katya," Piotr said gently. "You have to think of her safety now."

"I know, but, I just wish she'd, like, call." With a frustrated sigh, Kitty refreshed her inbox and checked to make sure no new text messages had arrived on her cell phone. "She should have called by now," Kitty said softly. "She has to know we're worried."

Placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder, Piotr gently nudged her out of her room.

Taking the time to grab Rogue's original note, Kitty shut her bedroom door and walked silently down the hall, listening for the sounds of Logan making his rounds. Neither she nor Piotr had heard anything by the time they reached the stair case, so they headed downstairs.

The door to the professor's private study was cracked, and light filtered into the darkened hallway. Ororo's calm voice was speaking, asking about how they planned to handle the situation when Kitty took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

There was a moment's pause before the Professor bid them welcome.

"Kitty, Piotr what has the two of you up at this hour?"

Unable to stop her fidgeting Kitty glanced down before looking up to meet Logan's gaze and answering. "Rogue isn't here," she said," she, like, went to New Orleans."

There was a slight pause before Logan all but growled out "If that Cajun has tricked her again!"

"No wait, Mr. Logan, it's not like that," Kitty interrupted.

Before she could continue, Professor Xavier motioned to both parties. "Calm down. I believe, Kitty, that it is time for you tell us everything. Please, start at the beginning." He motioned for Kitty and Piotr to sit down. "Now, tell us what you know."

"You knew she had gone?" Piotr asked the question, not entirely surprised that Xavier knew more than he generally let on.

Xavier shook his head. "We determined after Rogue was absent at dinner tonight that she was avoiding the mansion. We were unaware she'd left Bayville."

"Just exactly how long have you known, Half Pint?" Logan asked agitation obvious in his voice.

Kitty glanced at Piotr for encouragement before answering. "I found her note last night, about two am when I went to check on her. She wasn't in her room when I stopped by on my way to bed, so I thought I'd help her with the files so she could get some sleep too. But I just found the note."

She handed Logan the note. "She'd left Gambit's file on the screen."

Heads snapped up at that statement. "Essex worked on Gambit?" the professor clarified.

Kitty nodded, looking down. "Gambit and his dad went to him for help. You should read the file if you want the details. I didn't get most of the medical stuff, but I could tell it was bad."

Logan gritted his teeth. "Why did that send Rogue to New Orleans?"

"Someone tipped Essex that Gambit was back in New Orleans, and he hired two people to kill him. Rogue went to warn him." After she explained about digging through the computer logs to find out what name and airlines Rogue had used, Kitty explained that she'd told Piotr so he could help her get Rogue's motorcycle back to the mansion.

"I didn't think she'd be gone this long," Kitty stated, hands gesturing, trying to make them understand why she hadn't passed on the information right away. "I just figured she needed some time to explain to him, before we all went rushing in there."

Logan paused, eyeing her carefully. "Have Rogue and Gambit kept in contact since we left him in New Orleans?" he asked suspiciously. He distinctly remembered telling Rogue to let him know if the Cajun kept sniffing around.

Kitty shrugged. "I don't think so, but they must have at least a little. There's a new card on her mirror."

That statement made no sense to anyone, including Piotr, who had been silently supporting her throughout the conversation.

"Please, Kitty, explain what you mean," the Professor's words were gentle but required a response.

Kitty winced. Rogue was going to kill her for telling them about the cards. "Before leaving New Orleans, Gambit gave Rogue a card. The Queen of Hearts. Rogue kept it, saying he told her it was his good luck charm, that she, like, watched over him." Her voice dropped to just above a whisper. "It reminded Rogue that she had family here, no matter what happened."

Ororo nodded, the elegant woman clearly gesturing that they would in no way pass on Rogue's personal feelings about card. "You said she added a new one recently."

Kitty shrugged again. "It was right after the whole mess with Apocalypse. I just noticed it in her room one day. The Ace of Spades. She didn't say anything, and I didn't ask. But Gambit's the only one who'd send her cards in the first place. And she'd tucked it into the edge of the mirror with the Queen of Hearts. So I figured it had to be from him."

The adults exchanged a surprised looked but said nothing.

Logan growled. "Exactly when were you planning on letting the rest of us know that Rogue was headed south?"

Kitty winced. "Well, I'd sorta been hoping she'd be back by now, and it wouldn't matter that she'd gone."

The professor frowned, but waved off Logan's full blown roar. "Kitty, while I can appreciate your trying to keep Rogue out of trouble, as her guardian I need to know when she leaves the institute. We're here to protect and help each other."

Kitty nodded, not looking any of them in the eye. "I know. That's why I'm telling. She should have been back by now. I sent her a text saying I'd kept quiet and to call me. I've checked my e-mail and my phone, but I haven't heard anything."

Logan turned to look at Piotr with an appraising eye. "What made you decide to keep quiet, bub?"

The Russian shifted uncomfortably. He was still new enough that Logan's undivided attention outside of the Danger Room made him rather nervous. He finally shrugged and answered. "I did not think Gambit would listen well if we all went. But he would listen to Rogue, and protect her, if she went alone. Since we have not yet heard anything, it is no longer safe to keep it secret."

"Why do you believe Gambit would be more responsive to Rogue on her own?" Xavier asked.

When Piotr hesitated, trying to find the correct words, Logan swore. "I'd hoped I'd imagined that." As Xavier's questioning glance Logan answered uncomfortably. "Gambit likes her."

Xavier's eyebrows rose. "I see. Yes, that would make him weight her words more heavily." He paused briefly before continuing. "Do we know if Rogue is similarly attracted?"

Everyone seemed surprised when it was Piotr that answered. "Da. I think she is also interested."

Logan grimaced, but it was Xavier who spoke first. "Was Rogue interested before their adventure in New Orleans?" he asked, apparently concerned about possible Stockholm syndrome.

Piotr chuckled. "She was already interested. If she wasn't, I do not think Remy would have survived the trip."

The others laughed lightly in acknowledgement of Rogue's temper, although Logan looked pained.

Kitty looked him over carefully, "What makes you so sure she was interested? I know why I think so, but what do you know that we obviously don't?"

Piotr tried unsuccessfully to escape Kitty's razor sharp gaze. "I have seen them during different battles," he tried to deflect.

Logan sighed. He really didn't want to know just why the Russian figured Rogue liked Gambit. He'd been hoping he wouldn't have to come to terms with the two of them having any sort of relationship. "C'mon Half Pint, let's you, me, and the Tin Man go through Gambit's file. See what we can find about who's hunting him. Then we can go get Rogue. No point going in blind if we don't have to. Charles, can you use Cerebro to try and pinpoint them? We'll need a better destination than just New Orleans."

Charles nodded. "Ororo, if you'll prep the X-Jet." He and Storm headed immediately for the door. "Kitty, we'll discuss your punishment and Rogue's when she gets back. Piotr, I think helping out with tonight's mission should cover yours."

Kitty and the big Russian nodded and trailed after Logan, Kitty still trying to pry information out of Piotr.

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><p><em>Hmmm. What does Piotr know that Kitty doesn't? And just what is going on with Remy and Rogue? Much more of them to come next next time!<em>


	8. Chapter 7

_So, I intended to reply to all of my absolutely lovely reviewers. and then FFN had another issue, and I couldn't get in. But now it's letting me in, and I wanted to get this posted before it got cranky and crapped out again. That said, I will reply to all the fabulous folks who took the time to review. Thank you! I was so excited by your comments that I wrote another chapter and half! And thank you to the alerts and favorites. You guys are so awesome!_

_I'm not sure when I will get the next chapter up. My homework has been rather difficult this weekend, and I'm not as far along as i would like to be. (glares at homework sitting on the desk) . And my midterm is __next week, but I promise I will get at least one more chapter up by then._

_As always I don't the X-men, Marvel, or the Guilds. But they are so much fun to borrow. Have a good week and enjoy!_

_Layla  
><em>

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><p>Rogue leaned edgily against the back of the couch. It was now nearly 2:30 am and she was getting increasingly antsy. The burst of energy she'd gotten from Gambit had worn off with her adrenaline rush after the fight, making her feel all the battles, stress, and lost sleep of the last 40 hours.<p>

Remy had been unconscious for 4 hours now, and Jean-Luc had stopped by just long enough to make it abundantly clear that she wasn't leaving or calling any one until Gambit woke up.

They had to know she was gone by now. Even with the message she'd seen from Kitty when she tried to call home on her cell phone, there was no way Logan and the professor didn't know she'd left.

Henri and Mercy were cuddled on another couch keeping her company while she waited for Remy to wake up. Both had thanked her repeatedly for stepping in when she had. Henri seemed to think she'd found the only possible loop hole in the Guild's iron clad rule book, and it had impressed him more than a little.

Tante Mattie entered, bringing Rogue's freshly laundered clothes with her. "Best pack these away. You'll be needin' more than one set of clothes for the road."

Rogue's eyebrows rose. As tired as she was, she fought back the desire to snap a question at the woman. What little she'd been able to figure out about her left Rogue with the distinct impression that getting on Mattie's bad size was not a good idea. "Why will Ah need clothes for the road?" she asked, as politely as she could manage.

Mattie smiled at her. "You don' t'ink we're gonna send Remy on the road alone with those two huntin' him, do ya child?" She smiled her enigmatic smile and slipped out of the room.

Grumbling to herself she muttered, "Well that's just great. Now Logan's really gonna kill me." She shot Gambit's sleeping form a glare. "See if Ah ever try to help the Swamp Rat again."

She nearly jumped out of her skin at the half amused _hmmrph_ that came from the couch adjacent to hers in response. Henri and Mercy stood, Henri moving to stand beside the groggy Gambit and Mercy slipping out the door. "You awake, frère?" Henri asked.

"C'est possible," he slurred in French, attempting to sit up. A few minutes of staring stupidly at nothing, and he finally shook his head and focused on his brother. "How'd it end?" he asked guardedly.

Henri gave a light shrug. "Rogue fought in your place." His confusion on just how she'd made that happen was obvious. "Not quite sure how, but she fought _as_ you. Knocked Julien on his back. Marius denied he knew about de attack, so I doubt Julien will live to see the dawn. He didn' even challenge Rogue fightin'."

Remy's eyes widened. His eyes flickered over to Rogue. He held her gaze for a long moment before turning back to Henri. "Marius declare Bella his new heir?"

Henri nodded. "Ouias. Marius is de one who said de weddin' is off. He and Pere are goin' to meet later to find a way to work t'ings out wit'out a marriage."

Gambit's relief was visible on more than just his face. His whole body relaxed, head dropping and eyes closing for a long second. "Jean-Luc agreed the wedding was off?" he confirmed.

"Oui. No way you'll marry Bella Donna now, even if you wanted to." Henri rested his hand on Gambit's shoulder. "Been delt a fresh hand, frère. If you want out, Remy, take dis chance and don't look back."

Rogue tried to silently bury herself deeper in the couch cushions. Emotional moments between family members always left her feeling awkward and out of place. Given her involvement in the night's events, she was doubly uncomfortable.

Her fidgeting attracted Gambit's attention. "Seems I owe you a second time, Chérie."

Rogue glared. "Ah don't like cheaters. That's why Ah fought."

Even tired and groggy his smirk nagged at her. "Sure it is." He looked at her carefully for a moment, his eyes focusing on the gauze taped to her neck. "Julien get you?"

She shrugged, downplaying how if he hadn't moved her it would have been much worse. "Just a scrape. Nothin' serious."

Dropping his smooth exterior for a moment he looked her in the eye. "Thank you," he said seriously.

Rogue fidgeted and finally nodded, accepting his thanks without comment, not sure how to handle his blatant honesty.

There was a moment's pause before she asked, "Since you're awake, can Ah call Logan now? He's gonna kill me for leavin' without sayin' anything."

Glowing red eyes flashed with surprise and amusement. "You snuck out? Chérie, I'm touched."

Rogue glared. He was reading too much into this.

Her mental Logan snorted. _You're the one that went running down there, Stripes._

She got a fleeting impression of amusement from Remy's significantly fainter psyche. The psyche had settled into her mind like Logan and Julien, no longer up front and sharing control of her body.

Annoyed, she stood up from the couch and went to the cabinet where Jean-Luc had placed her phone after he found her trying to call the mansion. The door was locked. Crossing her arms over her chest, she loudly rested her shoulders against the cabinet as she watched Mercy return with Jean-Luc.

"Can Ah have my phone back now?" she asked, not bothering to hide her annoyance with Remy's father.

He ignored her and turned his attention to Gambit.

"Comment ça va?" Jean-Luc asked, carefully watching his son for any lingering symptoms of Rogue's absorption.

Remy tossed him an annoyed glare, well aware it was more concern about him losing his abilities that it was actual concern for his person. "I'm fine. It's nothing we haven't done before." Rogue snorted, and he smirked, but his voice was serious. "Stop giving the fille a hard time."

Jean-Luc's eyes flicked from Remy to Rogue and back again, his shrewd eyes trying to figure out exactly what relationship bonded the two mutants. He finally settled his gaze on Rogue. "'Fore y' call home, we should discuss how we're goin' to handle dis Marauder problem, non?"

"What do you mean by 'we'? Ah've already done more than Ah planned. My part is over." Rogue bit out the question, her eyebrows rising in expectation of an answer from the man who reminded so much of a pirate, and not in a good way.

Jean-Luc took obvious pleasure in his answer, leaning casually against the arm of Remy's couch, relaxed but still alert. "Y' said it yourself, Rogue. You've gotten involved with dis. Too many saw what y' did tonight. Y' leave now, and de Marauders will just follow y' figurin' y' know where Remy is. Wasn' protectin' your little family de reason you came all de way down here?" he drawled, eyes glittering maliciously.

Rogue visibly glowered at the man's thinly veiled threat. If her little fight earlier didn't attract Arclight and Scalphunter's attention on its own, Jean-Luc would ensure they followed her.

Although a bit wobbly on his feet, Remy stood quickly, moving to stand next to Rogue by the cabinet holding her cell phone. "That's enough. You remember the damage her _family_ did to the Rippers? You go after her and they'll come after what's left of the Guild."

Jean-Luc eyed his son sharply at the implied threat. "Are y' claimin' she's under your protection?"

"I'm still a prince," he said, an edge of challenge in his voice.

Rogue looked between the two Thieves before reinserting herself in the conversation. "Ah _am_ still here, you know. Ah don't need anyone's protection. Ah can handle myself. And how the hell are you a prince?"

Remy smirked at her, enjoying the flash of temper in her eyes. "Prince of thieves," he stated, holding her gaze as she absorbed his words.

Her eyebrows rose dangerously high. "That mean Ah should call you Robin Hood?"

Henri laughed out loud, pulling Rogue and Remy out of their staring contest. "I really do like y', petit." He gave Rogue a friendly smile. "Y' are of course under Remy's protection while y' are here. But mon pere is right about de Marauders. Remy is known for havin' belle femme's around. If you leave now, dey will assume he is wit' y'after de fun tonight."

Rogue looked uneasily between Henri and Remy. Henri seemed more trust worthy than his father, but she was still leery of the LeBeau brothers. For a reason she couldn't really explain, she trusted Gambit the most. Perhaps she should be questioning her sanity. Again.

At her questioning look, Remy nodded reluctantly, confirming his brother's words. "If you want to keep them from finding out about the X-Men, it's probably wise for you to stay here, out of sight, until this is over."

Jean-Luc interrupted before Remy could go on. "She will of course be under our protection if she stays. But it would be best if she leaves wit' y'."

Remy frowned, watching his father in suspicious confusion. "What do you mean?"

Jean-Luc smirked. "Y' ain't de only one in dis family who knows how to disappear, Remy. If she runs with y', we can claim your departure is due to a new contract. A fille who has a need for your talents, and who impressed the Guilds durin' de fight, requested y' for a job. The two of y' will leave together, makin' sure to keep your cover as y' lay down a false trail."

Gambit gave his father a tight smile. "The Guild stays out of trouble when questioned, and when we go off the grid, they'll hopefully think it's for the job."

Jean-Luc nodded with a sly grin, and for once Rogue had no problem imagining him as the King of Thieves. "How y' two handle de two of them once you're gone is up to y'."

Remy sighed before turning his head to face Rogue. "Hate to say it, chérie, but it's a good plan. We can arrange for de Wolverine to casually be in the same place somewhere to get you. Then I'll figure out what do about the Marauders."

Rogue watched his face carefully, looking for any signs that he was trying to play her again. Finding only resignation and tiredness in his eyes, she grudgingly nodded in agreement that it was a good plan. Well the beginning of it wasn't too bad. It would protect the X-Men, even if it left her in the awkward position of playing Gambit's love interest come business partner for a while. But she didn't like the idea of leaving him to face the Marauders alone.

She'd sort of assumed the Guild would help him handle the situation so she didn't have to. The notion that Jean-Luc was sending Remy away specifically so the Guild _wouldn't_ have to get involved in any way bothered her, much more than it appeared to bother Remy. She wondered why he'd ever agreed to stay after rescuing his father.

But now wasn't the time to interrogate him on how he planned on handling the two assassins. That part could be worked out later. And if Logan was going to come all the way to where ever they were going, then she might be able to talk Logan into helping Gambit. It would be a long shot, but she could try.

_Yeah, and that will be a fun conversation to have with Logan_, she thought to herself. She could feel mental Remy start to make a flirty comment and pushed him away, along with the faint sense of disapproval she felt from Scott's fuzzy and vague psyche. Like Ray he was too indistinct to make an actual comment, but she was dimly aware when he did or did not like something.

Returning her focus to the thieves around her she spoke. "Ah'll agree to leave with you." She intended to stop and leave it at that, but additional words slipped out anyway. "But Ah make no promises about what happens once Logan arrives." Hiding a grimace she willed her face to stay expressionless, held Jean-Luc's gaze evenly, and hoped the thieves took her comment to mean that Logan was unpredictable and that she couldn't speak for him. Not that she was having a hard time with the idea of leaving Gambit behind.

A quick sideways glance at Remy gave her a glimpse of a knowing smirk, and Rogue figured she hadn't fooled him. She hid a wince. This trip just kept getting better.

Jean-Luc watched her with a hint of smile, and she began to doubt she'd fooled anyone. He gestured to the cabinet behind her, a key in his open palm. "Den by all means, call your family. I'd use de burn phone that's beside yours, if I were you." The smile hardened. "But make it clear dey're not to come anywhere near y' until you're well out of Louisiana."

With a defiant glare, she took they key and unceremoniously pushed Gambit out of the way. She didn't like being pushed by anyone, even if she didn't have any real choice in the matter if she wanted to protect her family.

Turning the phone on, Rogue winced at the time. It was 2:45 am in New Orleans; that meant 3:45 in Bayville. She moved to the far corner of the room, futilely trying to gain some amount of privacy. Placing her own phone in her pocket, she dialed Logan's personal cell phone number from memory.

He answered after two rings, sounding wide awake and annoyed. "Stripes? You better have a good reason for not calling until now, Rogue."

Wincing she deflected partially, not looking forward to all this conversation would entail. "They told me Ah couldn't call you until Gambit woke up."

She could practically hear Logan's eyebrows rise. "Why did you have to absorb Gambit?" he asked guardedly, easily connecting why the Guild wouldn't let her leave with Gambit unconscious.

"Cause one of the assassins drugged him and challenged him for the right to marry the Assassin's Guild's leader's daughter. If I hadn't absorbed him and fought as him, Julien would have killed him." She didn't think it was wise to mention that Julien and Bella Donna were brother and sister. That would likely push Logan over the edge.

Logan grumbled for a moment, but all Rogue could pick out was 'couldn't have that' in a sarcastic growl. She decided not to press the issue.

With a sigh, Logan moved on. "You tell him about Essex and the two Marauders?"

Rogue's head snapped up. "How'd you know they're Marauders?"

Logan grumbled in annoyance. "Long story. Ran into them once before. They were working as mercenaries for hire at the time. Thought I'd killed Arclight." He sounded disconcerted that the woman hadn't remained dead. "I take it Gambit knows they're Marauders?"

"Yeah. Essex sort of had him workin' as one for while." Rogue wasn't sure what Logan's reaction to that would be.

"Figured as much from the file. Have to hand it to the Cajun for sneaking out. They ain't an easy bunch to get rid of." There was the faintest hint of approval in his voice that gave Rogue some hope that he might be helpful when the time came. Interrupting her train of thought he asked, "You ready for us to come get ya? Don't wanna risk you running into those two in the airport."

She couldn't quite keep the grimace off her face as she answered. "They won't just let me leave. Rem..Gambit's father will send the Marauders after us if Ah don't help Gambit get out of Louisiana." Her normal twang thickened as she glared at Jean-Luc.

"Like hell he will," Logan snarled.

She cut him off before he could continue. "Ah already agreed to it. Gambit and Ah will make it look like Ah hired him for a job. Once we're out of Louisiana, you can meet us and Ah can leave."

Logan picked up on the lack of emotion in her statement. "They listening in?" he asked.

"Of course," she said, making it sound like she was agreeing to whatever instruction he was giving her.

Logan's gusty sigh blew over the line. "They're leaving him to handle this alone, aren't they?"

"Yes." She said, forcing herself to not sound relieved he'd picked up on that and that he didn't like it.

Logan paused for a long moment. "You gonna just walk away, Stripes?"

She couldn't quite hide the smile tugging at her lips, but kept her words succinct and emotionless. "No."

"Good girl," Logan's voice was tight, but his pride was obvious. He hadn't taught her to run from a fight. "We'll deal with that when you're out of there. You got enough ID to pull this off?"

"Just the one," she answered, "but it should work fine for a while. Ah think."

"Do what you need to get out the state. Half-Pint and I will work on making sure your ID is deep enough. As soon as you and Gumbo know where you're going, call. I'll have Charles keep an eye on you until we get to you. Be careful, darlin'. Now put the Cajun's father on."

With a smirk, Rogue sauntered over to Jean-Luc, "It's for you," she drawled, and handed him the phone.  
>She waited, one hand on her hip, taking particular joy at the enraged but silent state that Logan inspired in Jean-Luc. He all but threw the phone back at her and snarled, "You'll leave before dawn."<p>

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><p><em>French translations<em>

_C'est possible: It's possible._

_Comment ça va: How are you (informally, I think)  
><em>

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><p><em>Snicker... Jean-Luc's afraid of Logan... But they are hitting the road! Together. Hmm. I wonder how that will play out...<em> _Stay tuned, and let me know what you think!_


	9. Chapter 8

_Ha ha! A study break! And a new chapter. Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed. Your reviews are awesome! And thank for all the faves and alerts. It's so nice to know people are interested. I had one review that questioned if this was a giant trap laid by both the Thieves and the X-Men to get Remy and Rogue together. That isn't true. But the chapter that will explain Logan's reasoning about some things is the _next_ chapter. So if I'm giving that impression, hang on, I will hopefully get that cleared up fairly soon._

_As always I don't own anything X-Men or Marvel related. Just lots of engineering text books that I would currently like to throw out the window. _

_ Please let me know what you think and enjoy!_

_Layla_

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><p>Remy stood silently in his bedroom, staring at the space that had been named his since Jean-Luc had taken him in off the street. At one time he'd believed the LeBeau's had saved him and this room had been his haven. But then the tarnish had started to show. Like finding out in the middle of the heist that the object in question was fake and of no value, Remy had in a quick moment put the signs together and realized that there was no love or care binding his new family to him. Just greed.<p>

This room had become his temporary refuge in his Guild prison, the only place he could guarantee that he was alone. Until his powers had manifested and then gone crazy. His whole life had become a prison, his uncontrollable power trapping him more completely than anything before.

He'd been truly grateful for Jean-Luc's help with that. In spite of everything, the Guild had stood by him through it. It had bonded him to the Guild and to his family. For a time he'd been desperate enough and, impossible though it seemed, naïve enough to believe his family had come to actually love him. By the time he and his father had found Sinister, they had both been so relieved. And even through the hell that had turned out to be, Remy could honestly say Jean-Luc would never have put him through that had he known how it would have actually turned out. His father was bastard, but he wasn't a butcher.

After he finally thought he was out of that, he'd then been doubly betrayed. Jean-Luc had inadvertently revealed that a prophecy was why he'd held on to Remy through his insane powers. The family that he'd thought he'd gained during those horrible months was still just a ruthless band of thieves who wanted to use him. And the man who'd both tortured and experimented on him in the process of giving him the control he'd so desperately needed had demanded an additional price for his work.

It had taken a year, a year of piece by piece selling his soul to find a way out. But he'd eventually found that way out. And in the course of the escape he'd run into an angry Goth mutant who'd intrigued and surprised him. And whom he'd lied to in order to save his worthless father. And with whom he was now going on the run with again.

Although this time she'd come to him…

His internal musings where interrupted by the arrival of Henri. He turned to face his brother. Maybe the only person in this whole mess who actually gave a damn about him personally.

"I can see why you like the fille." His brother said with a small smile. "She's got your kind of spark."

Remy returned the smile tightly. "Southern spitfire."

Henri nodded. He looked at the floor for a moment before drawing a deep breath. "You don't belong here, frère. Never have. Best thief I've ever laid eyes, but you aren't meant for this life."

Henri walked around the room, eyes taking in the details without absorbing them. "I know you came back out of loyalty. Some sort of debt you owe to the Guild for pulling you off the streets." Henri stepped up to him, and looked him straight in the eye. "Consider it paid. In full."

Remy started to argue, but couldn't. Thief he might be, but had his own rules of honor. He paid his debts. That's why he'd come back. And very nearly married Bella Donna. "That the ruling of a prince?" he asked, giving his brother a chance to not draw their father's anger when this came to light.

Henri nodded resolutely, accepting whatever recriminations the decision might incur. "Oui." And added as an afterthought, "Mattie's and Mercy's too, for what it's worth."

Remy tipped his head slightly in acceptance. He quickly pulled a single photograph from the built in bookshelf, ripped it out of the frame and tossed it, and the disk hidden behind it, in the bag that would fit on the back of his motorcycle. A pair of jeans. A shirt for daytime. He hesitated only on a pair of flannel sleeping pants and a long sleeve t-shirt, but eventually tossed them into the tiny bag with a toothbrush, a comb, and a couple of pairs of gloves and his sunglasses.

He stopped and looked at Henri one last time. Remy gave his only real family member one last hug. They nodded at each other. Without a backward glance he went to meet Rogue.

* * *

><p>They left just a little after four. No one was on the roads outside New Orleans except for truckers. Their immediate plan was to drive north, staying along the Louisiana-Mississippi border instead of taking the fastest route to Bayville, which would have meant heading east across Mississippi and into Alabama. Jean-Luc had demanded they stay within Louisiana for as long as possible. His way of ensuring the X-men couldn't approach too quickly. Although counterproductive in terms of drive time, the plan worked just fine for Gambit at the moment.<p>

The route took them north out of New Orleans, skirting around Baton Rouge, briefly into Mississippi, before crossing back into Louisiana at Vidallia. But most important to Gambit was that it took only one road. They would follow U.S. 65 the whole way to Tallulah. And there they would pick up Interstate 20 and go east into Vicksburg. Straight line driving was about all he was up to at the moment.

It was four and half hour's drive time from New Orleans to Tallulah, and then less than half an hour east into Vicksburg. Small highways and towns meant limited speeding in order to avoid local law enforcement, but that was also just fine with Remy. At least for now.

Tired, feeling as though the world was speeding by twice as fast as he could ride, the only thing that felt real at all was Rogue. Her arms wrapped around his waist, her legs pressed tight to his as they rode. Her chest was warm against his back. Even through his duster and hers, he could still feel the heat from her body. And the tension. Neither of them would relax until they had put some distance between themselves and both the Guild and the Mauraders.

Other than a quick refill for the gas tank in Natchez, they drove without stopping until they hit Vicksburg. It was a few minutes before ten when they stopped at a little café for breakfast. Sliding the bike into a spot visible from inside, they both took a moment to stretch after so many hours hunched over a motorcycle.

Watching as she pulled off her helmet, Remy couldn't quite control the smile pulling at his lips. Just before they'd left his father's house, Mercy had raced out, her black Guild Thief duster in her hands. Rogue had been surprised at the gift. But Mercy had insisted, saying she'd get another one in no time, and that Rogue would need a coat for the drive.

From a practical standpoint, Mercy was right. Driving through the Appalachian Mountains on a motorcycle in November did require a coat. But Gambit couldn't help but think that the black leather coat looked far better on Rogue than it ever had on his future sister-in-law. It was cut to be more fitted and feminine than his own tan duster, and it suited her.

Shaking his head to clear it, he ignored Rogue's questioning look and headed inside.

It was a typical truck stop café, filled with people who were friendly enough, but mostly minded their own business. Perfect for two people who intended to pay cash and keep to themselves, but didn't want McDonald's as their only food option.

A couple of nice breakfast scrambles later and both were ready for a nap. No amount of coffee was going to overcome the last 48 hours for either of them. They needed sleep. A small, local drive-in motel had a room with two double beds ready. They used Anna James's credit card to pay, before stumbling into the room.

Rogue didn't even bother to change clothes. She just pulled her shoes and jacket off and fell on the bed farthest from the door. Remy gave her a small laugh before essentially doing the same, willing to bet that both of them were asleep within five minutes.

* * *

><p>The sound snapped Gambit awake, his hands reaching for the deck of cards he'd set on the nightstand before falling asleep. Heart pounding and eyes burning as he scanned the room for intruders, he paused, finding nothing out of place. A second sound, more mumbled distress, pulled his attention to Rogue. She was pale and sweating, her face twisted in a grimace, one hand grasping the sheet tightly.<p>

Taking a moment to breathe and get his bearings, Gambit noted the sunlight coming in from the edges of the motel room's curtained window. He had no idea what time it was, but he now had the mother of all non-hangover headaches, so he assumed it hadn't been that long since they arrived. Just enough to really fall asleep.

Rogue drew his attention again with another mumble, this time sounding more angry than afraid. He wondered briefly if he should wake her up or just leave her be. Reluctantly deciding she would hate knowing he knew of her nightmares, he lay back down and was just drifting back to sleep when she shouted, sending him flying out of bed in surprise.

"Get your hands off me!" Even half awake, he could hear the fear and disgust in her twangy voice.

"Easy, Rogue," he said softly, gingerly reaching out a hand to rest on her shoulder. Well aware of her prickly nature, he gently nudged her shoulder to wake her up as she squirmed in her sleep. "It's only a dream, chérie. Wake up."

Despite his careful movements and reassuring voice, she still bolted upright, panting, her hands grasping at the one he'd placed on her shoulder, her fingers jerking his thumb back painfully to make him let go out of habit.

With a muffled Mfff of pain, Remy let go of her shoulder, shaking his hand to get feeling back in his thumb. "Easy there, chérie! It's only me."

It took a moment before she could do more than stare at him blankly. "Remy?" she muttered, sounding both relieved and confused. Her eyes darted around the room before she looked at him again. Mumbling something that sounded like 'we're safe', she pushed both hands back through her hair.

Uncertain of what to do or say, Gambit sat on the edge of his bed facing her. He might have shared a bedroom with various women, but none of those encounters had ever involved waking from nightmares. They really hadn't involved much waking at all.

Rogue finally sat up straight and looked at him. "Sorry," she apologized quietly, her cheeks an odd mix of fear pale and blush pink.

"Pas de probleme," he answered lightly. He tried to think of a gentle way to ask what she was dreaming about without unduly prying when she interrupted his thoughts.

"You really got a scar below your left eye?" she asked hesitantly.

His eyes widened in surprise, and without thought he reached up and touched the scar, so faint that he could barely see it in bright light when he was looking for it. But he could feel it. If she knew about the scar, then she'd been having one of his nightmares. His stomach turned. She shouldn't have to see that.

Reluctantly Remy looked her in the eye and nodded. "I'm sorry, Rogue. You shouldn't have to mess with … all of that."

She gave him a tight smile. "It wasn't just your memories. My own got in there somehow." She paused considering, "And Logan's. I think." A shiver ran down her back at the memory of the dream.

Rubbing her temples she muttered. "My head is killing me. What time is it?"

Gambit glanced at the clock. "Eleven forty-five," he grumbled. No wonder they both had a headache. They'd only been asleep a little over an hour. "Definitely need more sleep," he groaned.

Rogue nodded, but slipped into the bathroom.

Remy laid back down, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. She really shouldn't have to face his nightmares. He wouldn't wish his time with Sinister on any one. Knowing she picked that information up in the process of saving his life just made it worse. He knew just enough details about her past to know that she'd faced more than enough nightmares on her own and from her fellow X-Men without adding in his misadventures.

Rogue returned from the bathroom and settled back under her covers. She gave him a tight smile and closed her eyes.

He watched her for a moment. Even with the disturbing nightmares she was still beautiful, all pale skin and auburn hair. He shook the thought from his head. They had more important things to worry about than the fact that he could happily watch her for hours.

With a sigh, Remy turned on his side, facing away from Rogue and tried to push thoughts of her and Sinister away. He was just drifting off when Rogue jerked, a faint "No" on her lips.

After the third time in half an hour that Rogue jerked them both awake, Gambit had had enough. He was desperate for sleep, and so was she.

"C'mere, chérie." He rolled to face her and pushed himself up on one arm. Palm up, he reached out his fully gloved hand. He knew she didn't like being pushed into decisions. But he hoped she let it go this once since there was no way he'd be able to convince Rogue to come lay down beside him any time in the near future.

Uncertain of what he was doing and why he was doing it, she cautiously extended her arm to him. With a lightning fast tug, he pulled her into the bed beside him.

"What the hell!" It came out as more of a squawk, and she tried to pull away.

"Easy, chérie. Just relax," he purred softly. "You won't hurt me. Just relax."

He settled her on her side, her back against his chest, wrapping one arm around her waist, and took a deep breath letting the tension in his muscles melt away against her warmth.

It took a moment, but Rogue forced herself not to hyperventilate. She could feel Remy stretched out behind her, a feeling that was somehow both terrifying and warm and reassuring. He was careful to keep his hands away from her skin and away from any _other_ parts of her body. He made no further moves, no suave flirting or teases; he just let his body drift toward sleep.

She took a deep breath, willing her body to relax. She told herself that he was not trying to seduce her. It was more like an attempt to comfort her so she could sleep. Maybe.

The pillow smelled like Cajun spices and cloves, the same scents she remembered from when he'd wrapped her in his coat on the train to Louisiana. She paused. She hadn't realized she even remembered that.

Her thoughts drifted around the man behind her, clearly the only man crazy enough to voluntarily get that close to her skin and then _relax_. She pushed all thoughts of Sinister and Trask and Weapon X out of her mind. For the moment she was safe, and she needed sleep. She fell asleep with the memory of Remy placing the Queen of Hearts in her hand. _You've got people watching over you._

* * *

><p>Gambit woke first, his mind easing toward wakefulness lazily. Without moving the arm around Rogue's waist, he stretched, lifting his head to read the clock. Five o'clock. No wonder he was so hungry. A quick glance at Rogue made it obvious that she was still out like a light.<p>

He watched her sleep, trying to remember if he'd ever been in bed with a woman where the only intent was sleeping. If he had, he didn't remember it. But then he was pretty certain no one had ever been in bed with Rogue for any reason. _Their loss_, he thought to himself with a smirk.

It had always surprised him that no one had tried to gain the girl's affection. He knew she'd had a crush on One-Eye for a while. But after he and the perky red head had finally gotten together that had seemed to fade somewhat, much to Gambit's relief. He just couldn't picture that relationship working out, Scooter being much too tame for a woman like Rogue. But in all the time he'd spent with Magneto as an Acolyte he'd never seen anyone act even the slightest bit interested. Aside from himself.

He'd never understood that.

Of course he'd never found her untouchable skin to be a deterrent, and from what he'd seen most people had purposefully avoided her because of it. There were a few exceptions, but they were either female (Storm and le Chat) or as close to family as she got (Wolverine and that Nightcrawler guy). He didn't quite get why everyone found her skin so off putting. There was more to relationships than skin on skin touching. He would know. He'd had plenty of skin on skin contact without having a real relationship with any of the women.

He silently snorted. He didn't do relationships. They weren't his style.

Except possibly with her.

The thought of an actual relationship with Rogue had crossed his mind even before their train ride to New Orleans. The first time he'd genuinely thought about it, it had surprised him. So much so that he'd nearly fallen over, banging his head on the wall he'd been lounging against while pretending to listen to Magneto.

After several days of outright denial he'd finally attributed the thought to Rogue herself. For all that she was a rebel the trust and effort required by both parties for her to have romantic-esque contact with someone essentially demanded a relationship. And with her already rampant issues about self-worth that Mystique and her mutation had heaped on her, it would take serious effort on the part of her partner to earn that trust.

But he couldn't quite kick the idea that he'd wanted to earn that trust and be the one who got to hold her. And after her little knockout kiss, he was pretty certain she was at least a little interested in him.

Of course all that had gone out the window when word of his father's kidnapping had arrived. She'd been in the middle of a personal crisis herself, and he hadn't had the time to gently convince her to help him.

That trip had been an eye opener for him in a lot of ways. He'd already known he enjoyed annoying her. Hearing her growl out a challenge during a battle or coaxing an angry retort after school were favorite pastimes of his. But on that trip he'd learned that he enjoyed making her laugh too. He liked that she hadn't just let him push her around. She'd gone along with him after he'd untied her, but she hadn't blindly followed. He'd enjoyed fighting with her and not against her. And judging from the grins he'd seen as they raced that boat through to bayou, he wasn't the only one.

He'd never before appreciated how much it helped to have someone who could relate to his past. He'd started telling her about that to keep her hooked and helping him. But by the end, he'd been telling a friend about his past because it somehow made facing his father a little easier. He still wasn't sure why that was.

But in the end, after she'd stopped Wolverine from killing him, he'd gone back to his family. He hadn't planned to stay. It had just worked out that way. And in not immediately leaving he'd set himself up to be trapped by the Guild again. By the time he'd seen the X-Men taking on Apocalypse on the news, he'd been engaged. Bound by Guild law to his family and his future wife's family, not the stripe-haired X-Man on the TV screen.

He snorted silently, easing away from Rogue and out of bed. He was free of his almost marriage to Belle, free of the Guild if he wanted it, and he'd just spent the last 5 hours asleep with Rogue in his arms. Without intent he now had all the things he'd desperately wanted just a few days before. And he hadn't any idea in hell what to do with any of it.

He had a feeling that someone, somewhere was laughing at him.

* * *

><p><em>-sings off key- "On the road again...seems like Remy's always on the road again..."<em>

_Okay enough Willie Nelson._ _Just where will the road take them, and how long will they be traveling together? That and more next time._


	10. Chapter 9

_Hello everyone! Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! And the messages wishing me luck on my midterms! I survived. I think. Several people also added me and Only Trying to Help to their favorites or alert lists. You guys are so awesome and encouraging! _

_Here is the next chapter. It's a long one. And very introspective. We get to look at Remy's thought process as he considers where_ _he will go and what he will do now that's free of the Guild. Hopefully you like the way it turned out._

_ Just in case anyone had doubts, I don't own the X-Men or Marvel. If you think I do, I have some lovely ocean from property here in Arizona to sell you. :-) I also have no claim on the band that is playing in the bar while they are having dinner. I'll stick info on them at the end. But The Steeldrivers are awesome. Enjoy!_

_Layla  
><em>

* * *

><p>Rogue had been awake by the time he'd left the bathroom after his shower. She'd stared groggy-eyed at him for a moment before grabbing her bag and wordlessly entering the bathroom. She apparently wasn't a morning person even when she wasn't waking up from knockout gas.<p>

He'd been pouring over their beat up old road map, plotting the best route to take the following morning while she showered. Besides 'staying in Louisiana' for the first night (he counted Vicksburg, Mississippi as close enough) and meeting up with Logan somewhere, they had no plans or directions except vaguely northeast toward wherever they would meet Logan.

There were essentially two directions out of Vicksburg that could help them: east to Birmingham or north to Memphis. Only one way to Birmingham, just stay on I-20 and drive. Two ways to Memphis. Go north out of Vicksburg and take the back roads, or head east to Jackson and then take I-55 north.

He appraised both routes. The straight path east to Birmingham would be the fastest way to get to Knoxville, which had the dubious distinction of being roughly halfway between New York and them. Probably a good place to meet up with Wolverine. But taking the direct route would be the more obvious choice, and that could get them hurt. They needed to lay down a false trail subtle enough to make the Marauders work for it, and therefore believe it, and still get themselves going in the general direction of Knoxville.

He glanced up from the map he had spread across the bed when the bathroom door opened. Rogue was dressed in her clothes this time, not Mercy's. Her hair was combed out, but hanging wet around her face and she hadn't put her makeup on yet. He caught the blush on her cheeks when she glanced up and found him watching her. He bit back a grin. Making her blush was entirely too easy and far too much fun. But he returned his focus to the map.

"Tell me more about your ID, chérie. What sort of background does Ms. Anna James have?"

Rogue answered while she put on her makeup. "Ah'm originally from Meridian, Mississippi. My family moved to Chicago a few years ago, and Ah'm living somewhere in New York. Ah'm supposed to have dropped out of NYU after a few months."

Remy raised an eyebrow. "How deep is that cover?" he asked, needing to know if it would stand up to Marauder digging.

Rogue shrugged. "Logan said he and Kitty would make sure it would hold up. That's why he's not leaving Bayville until tomorrow."

Remy flipped a pen between his fingers as he thought about that. He was reasonably confident that the Guilds would hold out for at least a day if not two before they let anything out about his departure with Rogue. It would seem suspicious if they rolled over too soon. And he knew enough about Logan, and in particular Logan's relationship with Rogue, to know that the Wolverine would do everything he could with the time he had to make sure Rogue was safe and her ID would hold.

He put the pen down and started flipping cards instead while he watched as she carefully applied her eyeshadow. "NYU, huh. Sounds like your parents have money, Anna."

Rogue seemed vaguely amused by his statement as she caught his eye in the mirror. "Grandparents, Cajun. My parents are dead. But Ah think that money was part of the cover. It's why Ah could get a credit card with the limit Ah did."

Remy nodded. A nice touch. It fit easily with Rogue's personality and independence. And would be lovely for their little cover story. He winked at her. "I have always have had good taste." He let the teasing comment linger, along with his eyes on her body, now that she'd turned to face him. He chuckled when she glared and blushed hard enough for the color to work its way down her neck. With a grin he brought the conversation back to business. "How do you feel about plannin' to rob your grandparents of the family heirloom painting they keep in their study?"

Rogue looked at him like he'd gone crazy.

He explained. "We paid for the room with your credit card. Tomorrow when we checkout, casually say something about going to Memphis. We take the interstate to Memphis, making sure to pay for gas or food or something small with your card while we're there. And we carefully leave a trail that says we're headed north. Like buying a map of Kentucky and Illinois or something like that."

Rogue raised an eyebrow. "Ah take it we pay cash and head east as fast as we can once we leave Memphis?"

He grinned. She was a woman after his own devious heart when it suited her. "Oui. Knoxville is about halfway between New Orleans and Bayville. On the bike, it'll take us about 12, 13 hours, countin' stops to get there. About the same for Logan. Be a nice, safe place to meet up with him, and then give me time to set up for the Marauders once they figure out they're chasin' their tails."

He saw her body language change at that statement. Her shoulders drew in, and she crossed her arms over her chest. "You're crazy if you think Ah'm just gonna turn around and run home with Logan while you fight them."

Remy sighed. He'd been hoping she'd do exactly that, hadn't expected it, but hoped. "This ain't your fight, Rogue. Don't want you getting involved any more than you already are."

Her grey-green eyes flashed. "You realize that if somethin' went wrong and you lost, they'd end up on mah doorstep? Ah have my own reasons for making sure they don't come out of this lookin' for the X-Men."

He smirked. "From the Wolverine, I'd buy that. But not from you." He said, calling her on the half truth, and wondering if that was really the only reason she didn't want to leave.

She looked away, the faint color on her cheeks telling him there was more to her reasoning but she didn't say anything.

He let it drop. If he pushed her too hard, she'd either retreat entirely or push back at him. And right now he wasn't sure which option he liked more. He had no plans and no ideas for what happened after he dealt with the Marauders.

Pushing aside the awkward silence, Rogue picked up the burn phone. She glanced at Gambit and raised an eyebrow. "Knoxville tomorrow night?" she confirmed.

Remy nodded, his eyes tracing the route to Memphis. "Be a long ride, but we should be able to get there if the weather holds and we leave early."

He folded the map and stuffed it back into his bag, trying not to listen to Rogue talking to Logan. If she and Logan were going to stay and help deal with the Marauders, he'd have to come up with an exit strategy quickly. He had no idea where he would go after the fight was over, but if he didn't have a destination in mind, he had a feeling it would make things more difficult.

He heard Rogue confirm that Logan would leave tomorrow on his bike. They were avoiding using any of the fancy X-Jets to keep from attracting attention.

When she got off the phone, he suggested dinner and she nodded.

They entered the little restaurant across from their hotel to the sound of a twanging fiddle and picking on a banjo. The band was singing about four cold walls without parole and asking the Lord to have mercy on their souls, saying they wouldn't be in trouble if it hadn't been for love. The place was mostly full, and the food smelled wonderful. A young woman about Gambit's age sat them at a table and mentioned a special of fried catfish before leaving them to their menus.

Figuring the local girl's recommendation would be a good one, Remy tried to tune out the band and consider where he would go after all this ended. Bluegrass wasn't his favorite music style, but the band mixed in enough blues that it didn't drive him too crazy. He glanced at Rogue as she read through the menu before looking away.

She was only with him now out of necessity. What she did after this had no bearing on what he would do. He snorted silently. He didn't believe that himself any more than he'd believed her when she said it that night in Blood Moon Bayou.

The band had switched to a new song, now singing about a man on the run from a crime he didn't commit. He asked a kiss from his girl as he hitched a ride in a boxcar, not knowing when he'd get to come back to her.

_A kiss before I leave you, and one more for the wind.  
>Everyday I hope and pray to be with you again<em>

With a smirk at the band Gambit acknowledged it wasn't a half bad idea. Kiss Rogue goodbye, in whatever manner she'd allow, and hit the road. He could survive that way; he'd done it before. Taking small thieving jobs to get from day to day until he established a reputation as a professional thief that was separate from the Guild. Rogue would become a pretty memory he could pull out and think on when the days became too long.

He sipped at the whiskey the waitress brought when she came to take their food orders. The bourbon burned soothingly down his throat as he considered where that future would take him. He was a good thief, but without the Guild's protection it was a slippery slope.

It was rather ironic that aside from beating the hell out of each other, both the Assassin's Guild and the Thieves' Guild were snobs. They stayed out of the messy world of global politics, drug smuggling, and weapon's dealing.

The Assassin's weren't mercenaries for hire. They took single contracts for specific, single targets. Coups were left to other, less savory organizations. And though the Thieves would generally steal whatever was asked, they preferred the world of high profile art, jewels and bonds. And naturally they loved a good con. But they didn't take contracts for stolen weapons. It wasn't their style.

But to establish himself as entirely separate from his Guild past, Gambit knew he'd likely have to do those very things. And he was too highly trained a fighter not to end up working as a mercenary in some regard.

He took another sip and listened to band. They were singing about a gun who wished it had been left in the ground rather than become the weapon it had been fashioned into. It wanted to know why it was called a 'Peacemaker' given what it had been made to do.

_If I don't deserve the credit, why do I deserve the blame?_

With a bitter smirk into his glass, Remy considered. He'd hated working for Sinister. It had been a terrifying eye opener into the world of mercenary work. He'd had no control and no say over what he was asked to do. It was 'do it, or pay the price'. So he'd gone along until he'd found a way out.

He still couldn't make himself think about the consequences of what his work had been. He hadn't been the one bringing in new subjects, but he'd provided research and data that facilitated the experiments those test subjects had undergone.

He took a big swallow of whiskey to chase the sick feeling taste out of his throat. He'd done what he'd had to, but that didn't mean he'd liked it.

Magneto was 'mercenary work: take two'. For all that Magneto had lived through he was far from the most competent strategist or leader Gambit had ever worked with. He'd never really sent them out to kill Xavier's X-men. He'd mostly wanted to pull Xavier over to his way of thinking. Which was fine with Gambit. Other than the mess with Trask, very little about those days particularly bothered him. He'd mostly spent his time polishing his thieving skills, laying low, and trying to catch Rogue's eye.

He'd been lucky to wind up with someone like Magneto as his boss after leaving Sinister. He could so easily have been leaving one truly vicious man for another. It had seemed a perfect escape at the time. And in the long run it had paid off more than he could have ever hoped. It wasn't free, but the cost had been comparatively low.

Rogue shifted in her seat, drawing his gaze again. Her eyes were focused on the band, arms folded across her chest. As he studied the play of shadows across her face in the dim lighting, he listened to the lead singer sing about having two angels sitting on his shoulders, ones who only ever disagreed. One on the side of right and reason and the other on the reckless side of him.

With a bit of a glare toward the band for somehow signing songs that perfectly fit his inner turmoil he considered the words of the song.

_I've spent a lifetime listening to the whispers  
>Always try to heed my second mind<br>Never done nobody wrong on purpose  
>But I've come mighty close a couple times<em>

He took another sip of whiskey. Wasn't that the truth? He'd never intended to wind up as a mercenary soldier fighting to establish mutants as a superior race over humans. He figured Magneto's vision of the future was more likely than Xavier's, but he certainly hadn't had any particular attachment to it.

Rogue noticed his gaze and raised an eyebrow in his direction. He smirked, but looked away.

The angel on his reckless side taunted him. He'd be bored to death in ten minutes with a real job. He wasn't meant for a nine to five kind of life. So where did that leave him? He couldn't go back to the Guild. He didn't want anyone lying to his face about being a part of the family when they only kept him around because he was useful to them. And he didn't like the look of the road laid out before him if he went on thieving without the Guild. He knew without quite knowing why that that road lead to blood and no small amount of misery.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the waitress placing plates of food before them. Both he and Rogue had ordered the catfish, and it looked as good as the hostess had said. The band announced a brief break, but promised they'd be back before long.

He and Rogue both ate silently for several minutes before she spoke. "You missin' your family?" she asked hesitantly.

He blinked at her in surprise. "Non. Not at all."

She looked him in the eye for a moment. "You're thinkin' awfully hard about somethin'."

"Considering all the options, that's all," he deflected, giving her only a partial answer.

"Where will you go? I mean after all this is over." She looked away as she asked the question.

He eyed her carefully, not sure how to answer. A sharp response would push her away and end any further questions. She'd go into protective 'I don't need you' mode, and while that was probably the best for both of them in the long run, he neither wanted to hurt her nor end the easy connection between them. He settled for vague honesty. "Not sure, chérie. Got lots of way I could go."

She paused, and he was surprised to see her fidget uncomfortably. "Ah didn't think to ask before. Are you okay with not marryin' what's her name? Ah kinda took that choice away without meanin' to."

His eyes widened in astonishment. Of all the regrets he had in his life, and there were plenty, that was definitely not one of them. He reached out, startling her when he brushed her bangs out of her eyes without touching her skin. "Owe you my life for that, Rogue. Not having to marry Belle's like getting the keys to my life back."

Some of the tension in her shoulders released, but she looked at him in puzzlement. "Mercy sort of explained it, but Ah still don't get it. Why were you gonna marry her in the first place, if you obviously didn't want to?"

He took a bite of food and chewed while he considered his answer. "If you marrying …" he paused and picked out a name, "Pietro would keep the X-Men alive and end a war would you do it?"

She grimaced. "At least you didn't pick Blob. Or Toad. Ah guess Ah see your point. Ah was just surprised you stayed at all."

He shrugged. "Didn't plan on it. It just sort of happened. Stayed for Henri and Mercy's engagement, and then I got caught in the peace accord and couldn't leave."

She glanced at him, looked away, and then glanced back before asking. "You gonna go back once this is over?"

He chuckled wryly. "That's about the only thing I _know_ I'm not gonna do." He paused before adding, "Well that and work for Sinister again. I guess I owe the X-Men for taking care of that too. Seems I owe you for several things, Chérie." He couldn't resist lightening the conversation with flirting. "You'll have to let know how I can make it up to you," he drawled letting his eyes linger on hers for a moment, and enjoying the blush it brought to her cheeks.

She glared at him, but he could see humor in her eyes as well. "Maybe Ah should have left you to Bella Donna."

He grinned. "You aren't that cruel."

They smirked companionably at each other before returning their food in comfortable silence. He was just finishing the last of his meal when she spoke again, his empathy picking up on her hesitation. "Don't take this the wrong way. But Ah know Xavier is always lookin' for new people. You could always join the X-Men. If you don't have somewhere else to go."

He was silent for a moment, weighing all the different meanings of 'don't take this the wrong way' and considering what the offer would mean. She wasn't being flirtatious or coy. She was giving him a genuine offer. But joining the X-Men meant playing by the rules and working as a team. Two things he wasn't known for being good at.

Still wondering why she'd meant with her condition, he asked. "What do you mean, 'take it the wrong way'?"

She glanced sideways before answering. "Ah didn't want you to think it was like your family. Ah mean, yeah, you're a mutant and you're good in a fight, but Xavier isn't like your father. He genuinely cares about people."

Gambit sat back, letting her words play over in his mind. That actually hadn't crossed his mind. He'd seen that Xavier cared for his team while he'd been working with Magneto. "I'm not nice and sweet like your family, chérie. Never have been."

She snorted. "Cause 'nice' and 'sweet' are the first words everyone uses for Logan."

He felt a smile pull at his lips. He hadn't been considering the Wolverine when he made that statement.

She kept speaking. "You wouldn't be the first of us with an interesting past, Remy." Embarrassed that she was pushing the idea too forcefully, she downplayed her argument. "Anyway, it was just an idea."

He didn't take the opportunity to let the subject drop. "I used to be your enemy," he reminded her.

"So did Piotr," she countered. "So did Ah. Mystique recruited me first. Or didn't Magneto tell you that?"

He raised an eyebrow. "I heard rumors to that effect but never really believed 'em."

She gave him a bitter, tight smile. "Ask Scott about the time Ah tried to force him off a cliff on a snowmobile."

He raised an eyebrow in surprise, not that she played rough, but that she'd seriously played for the blue shape shifter. "How did Mystique get you in the first place?"

She looked away. "She knew the X-Men were comin' to recruit me. She and Irene told me they were out to get me in order to keep me away from them. She disguised herself as different ones of them and attacked me while they were tryin' to talk to me. Ah ended up stuck in a cemetery runnin' from her and the real X-Men thinkin' they were tryin' to hurt me. My mutation had just manifested and Ah'd accidentally absorbed a kid from school. Ah couldn't figure out who Ah was or what was goin' on. Without knowin' any better, she seemed like the best option at the time."

"We really could write that book about our parents," he muttered.

"Probably make a lot of money sellin' it as some bad movie," she added with dark humor, getting a smirk out of him.

He returned the conversation to its previous subject. "How long's Piotr been with you?" he asked, assuming it was fairly recent.

She glanced at him. "Apocalypse. He got in touch with us just before we went to fight and stayed after."

Gambit nodded. "Pete's a good homme. He'd fit well with you."

She nodded but didn't say anything.

The band returned to the stage, picking up instruments as the lead singer gave some background on the next song. Something about a slave during the Civil War deciding it was time to join the union soldiers and asking his wife to make the run to freedom with him.

The song had a softer feel than the previous ones, but it made a nice segue between general conversation and loud, live music. Not really trying to listen, the words of the song blended once more into his internal musing.

If he hit the road after they dealt with the Marauders where would he end up? Mostly likely fighting against the X-Men in some form or fashion. Either directly by working as a mercenary for someone like Magneto or worse, or indirectly through stealing information for the likes of Sinister. It probably wouldn't turn out to be that black and white, but the premise held true enough. He was a mutant and would likely end up involved in the mutant situation somehow.

He considered his earlier comment to Rogue, about owing her and the X-Men for getting Sinister off the streets. He did owe them for that. And he didn't want to work for men like him in the future. So that made him what, a thief with a conscience? He mentally snorted. That wouldn't work if he needed to make a living as a professional non-Guild thief.

_Can you run, to the freedom line of the Lincoln soldiers  
>Where a contraband can be a man<br>With a musket on his shoulder  
>I've got to stand up tall before I'm done<br>Wrap these hands of mine around a gun  
>And chase the taste of bondage from my tongue<br>Can you run_

The man in the song was willing to fight for his freedom, to stand up and risk it all for the chance that he and his wife could be free.

It wasn't literal slavery that pulled at Gambit. He was free do what he wanted; but that freedom also left him wide open to the consequences of those choices. He'd never really considered that side of the coin before. It had never been an option before.

He swallowed the last sip of his bourbon, and set the empty glass down. If he and Rogue didn't have to be up at dawn to drive he'd order another one. He sipped at his water instead.

_I'm takin' nothin' with me  
>We've just got time to beat the sun<br>And the boys in gray are never far away  
>Can you run<em>

Henri's words played through his memory, about new chances and being dealt a fresh hand. He was free of the Guild, free from both Sinister and Magneto. His ties to his past had been severed cleanly. But the world of shadows he'd been born into was always close by. If he didn't find a path that pulled him away, he'd wind up back in them again.

_And even if I die, I've got to try  
>Can you run<em>

Could he really do that? Learn to play by Xavier's rules and not just avoid scum like Sinister, but actively work against them? He'd get to play outside the law, keep his skills and combat training in top form. His eyes slipped over to Rogue as she watched the band play. There could be other benefits to that life too. Maybe.

He turned to face Rogue, his movement drawing her attention. "I'll think about it," he said.

It took a moment for his meaning to register, but he saw a start of a smile in eyes when she got his meaning. She nodded, and then turned back to the music, that faint smile tugging at her lips.

With a subtle smirk at her reaction, he turned back to the band. He stole one of Rogue's remaining French fries and settled in to listen to them sing about the ghosts of Mississippi.

* * *

><p><em>Before anyone gets up in arms about my using Bluegrass music, yes I know neither Remy nor Rogue listen to it. That's sort of the point. All the music used here, whether just mentioned or actual lyrics being used, belongs to The Steeldrivers, specifically Chris Stapleton. If you do happen to like bluesy country and southern soul music with serious twang, I highly recommend them! They are awesome. Sadly Chris Stapleton no longer is part of the group, but he's the lead singer on their two CDs. But they are amazing musicians. I would love to find a little dive bar with great food where they are playing!<br>_

_The songs that I used here are (in order):  
><strong>If It Hadn't Been For Love<strong> (for those of you who are Adele fans, she also sings this song. Her version is fun, but the original is still my favorite)  
><strong>To Be With You Again<br>Peacemaker  
>The Reckless Side of Me<br>Can You Run  
>The Ghosts of Mississippi<strong>_

_I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you think, and have a great weekend!_

_Layla**  
><strong>_


	11. Chapter 10

_Happy Saturday to you all. Thank you all so much for the lovely reviews/alerts/favorites. I very much appreciate hearing what you all think. And it's a great encouragement. I hope you all continue to enjoy it. _

_We have ploy development and relationship development in this chapter. Hopefully it's not cheesy. Remy was feeling rather flirty when I wrote this._

_As always I own nothing. I'm just playing with the X-Men for fun. Let me know what you think!_

_Layla_

* * *

><p>It was nearly ten when Scott and Kurt came to see him. Logan had been hoping he could slip out the following morning before those two noticed Rogue was missing. Apparently that wasn't going to happen. He gave a couple of quiet instructions to Kitty and Piotr and pulled the other two into Xavier's office. "What's on your mind, Shades?" he asked.<p>

Scott crossed his arms over his chest, concern written clearly on his face. "We haven't seen Rogue since just after the attack on Essex's lab, and no one knows where she is."

Kurt spoke up, his tail dancing around behind him agitatedly. "I am afraid she is avoiding us because Essex's work reminds her of what happened with Trask."

Logan addressed the first problem while he came up with a story that would suffice to keep the two of them, and everyone else as soon as they realized Rogue was gone, happy until the issue of the Marauders had been dealt with.

"Stripes's fine. She's working a special project for me. That's why she isn't at the mansion," he said.

Kurt looked relieved, but Scott simply looked confused. "You sent her on a mission without any back up?"

Logan internally grumbled at Scott's comment. Trust Shades to pay extra close attention when Logan didn't want him to, but he calmly answered with a half truth. "She was in a unique position to handle this." Namely that she'd left without telling anyone, but telling Scott and Kurt that wasn't going to help anything. Logan continued, "Sending someone with her would have made things harder. But she's picked up some outside help, so she's not doing this alone anymore." Again, no need to tell them it was Gambit she was with.

That seemed to further calm both men down, at least until Kurt's curiosity spiked. "Can you tell us what the mission is about? I'd like to help her if I could."

Logan fought not to roll his eyes as Scott nodded. Both the Elf and Shades were defensive and protective of Rogue to begin with, but they were also as curious as Kitty and Amara when it came to secrets. "I'll let her tell you about it when she gets back. If you two want to help her with this, then you can make sure no one else finds out about it. If someone asks, tell them she's out running errands or something. But keeping this discrete is the best thing you can do right now," he said, putting enough edge into his voice to let them know he meant it.

Xavier rolled silently into the room, having overheard Logan's comment. "Logan is quiet serious about this. And correct. The most important thing you can do for her is keep anyone from noticing that she is gone."

Both Scott and Kurt eyed the adults suspiciously, not feeling at all reassured about Rogue's safety if they were that serious about keeping this on the down low. Scott spoke hesitantly. "But you're sure she's safe? We can always bring in the team…"

Logan cut him off. "This isn't a situation for the team. Staying off everyone's radar is paramount for this."

"If you're sure that's what's best…" Scott said hesitantly.

"It is." Logan's look and tone leaving no room for argument.

Both Scott and Kurt nodded wearily and left, exchanging concerned looks as they did so, no doubt they would be keeping their ears to floor for information until Rogue returned. Logan sighed. He'd have to reiterate the importance of silence to Kitty and Piotr again before he left. If Scott and Kurt got even a whiff of Gambit's involvement they would, without a doubt, go running into the middle things, trying to protect Rogue.

Making sure that Scott and Kurt were well out of earshot, Xavier turned to face him. "You know I trust you completely, but why is it you are so set on not using the team? These are the types of situation they have been trained to handle."

Logan eyed his friend for a long moment before answering. "I first ran into Arclight six years ago, during the break between school years," he said, remembering the three months he always spent away from the school while Jean and Scott spent the summer with her parents. "I bumped into some runaways in Ottawa. They said something about mutant teens being taken off the streets. Not having anything better to do, I looked into it, figuring it was just that the kids moved around to avoid being picked up."

Logan sighed and looked Charles in the eye. "They weren't. There was a buyer in Southeast Asia that wanted young mutant teens. A real pro. I never did figure out who it was or why they wanted the kids, but Arclight was taking the kids off the street and selling them to whomever it was. Making a nice profit too," he said with a disgusted grimace.

"I spent the rest of that summer tracking her. But she was good. She knew how to move the kids and move'em fast. I managed to pull two or three of them before she sold them, but the kids were spooked and just ran. I don't know what happened to them. But I did finally catch up Arclight."

He paused, clearly frustrated. "Sliced her head clean off. I _know_ I killed her, Charles. Even Sabertooth couldn't have survived that. But she'd managed to cover her tracks to the buyer by the time I finally ran her down. I put out feelers to every place I could think of to see if the buyer continued to want the kids. But I never heard a word. Nothing from anywhere."

"However the hell she managed to survive that, the last thing I want to do is give her the names and faces of more mutant teens to offer to that buyer. She already knows about Gambit through Essex, and there is no way Rogue won't be involved since she went to New Orleans to warn him. But I won't risk those two finding out about the rest of our kids. If we've managed to stay off her radar this long, I'm not going to go and wave the team in front of her."

Xavier pressed his fingers together in front of his face, taking in Logan's explanation. "Yes, I can certainly understand keeping the children out of this. You are absolutely right in this matter. But my question now is how do you intend to handle the Marauders when you meet up with them?"

Logan shifted his neck uncomfortably. "If it were only me and Gambit, I'd say we just kill them. I can't imagine the Cajun complaining to too much if they don't survive. And I know Rogue can handle it if that's what we have to do. But I don't want to put her through that if I don't have to. I will if it has to be done, but …"

Xavier gave him a tight smile. "I assume that's the other reason you don't want the team involved?"

Logan nodded. "Like I said, Stripes can handle it if she has to. Some of the others, I'm not so sure. Scott and Kurt in particular would have a problem with it. Red could go either way. Same with Half Pint and the Tin Man. Laura won't even blink. That's why she'll be the one to fly in and pick us up. She can handle whatever eventuality happens and help with the clean up. And the younger kids, no way."

Xavier nodded, his features pinched in obvious concern and frustration. "Well my friend. I know you will do everything you can to protect Rogue. And though there is little I can personally do to help you besides keeping things running smoothly here, I have one suggestion that might be useful. Let's go talk to Hank. He has a particular serum that might be applicable to your problem."

Glad that Xavier wasn't challenging the possibility that he might have kill, Logan nodded and followed down the med lab. If Blue Boy had something that could be useful, he was all ears. Rogue had been through enough without having witness the brutal deaths of two living mutants, even as bad as those two were. If there was a way to spare her that he was willing to at least consider the option. Killing them was always there. It's not like his claws were going anywhere.

* * *

><p>They both woke up feeling like the devil was on their tail. They left Vicksburg at six am, hitting the highway fast and hard after Rogue grumbled while they checked out that if Remy didn't plan on stopping until they'd hit Memphis, he'd better feed her before they left. Remy did just that, both of them grinning on her award winning performance.<p>

They hit Memphis by ten-thirty, buying gas, a map, and some fast food with Anna James's credit card. By eleven they were headed east on I-40. It was a solid six hours from Memphis east to Knoxville. They left Nashville at little past two, still ridding as fast as they could without attracting attention.

But they hit rain on the Cumberland Plateau. It was heavy enough to force them to stop completely in the tiny town of Monterey. The impressive mountain storm prevented them from either going back to the larger Cookeville or continuing farther east.

They found only one tiny local motel with its vacancy sign still lit and pulled the bike off the highway. Rogue ran into the front office to book the room while Remy went to park the bike around the back of the hotel out of sight. She pulled her helmet off and shook out the rain from her hair, grumbling about helmets that were no good in wet weather.

Tucking the helmet under one arm, she entered the office, ignoring the amused and entirely too interested glance of the college kid minding the desk. She gave him a smile that was more correctly described as a grimace and asked flatly about a room.

The guy at the desk looked her up and down before answering. "Only one room left. You're lucky you got here when you did. Some golf tournament in Cookeville has everything booked. The room has one queen bed. Will that work or do you need additional accommodations?"

Half afraid he was going to offer to provide those additional accommodations himself, Rogue readily agreed to the room. She and Remy had slept in one bed the night before. 'What was one more night?' she asked herself and then promptly ignored both her blush and the growl from her mental Logan.

She was handing over the bills to pay for the room when Remy entered, shaking water out of his hair. She gave the annoying desk clerk a bland look as he flirtatiously recommended places for dinner. He handed their key over with a clearly disappointed look as Remy leaned haphazardly next to Rogue on the counter and smirked at him from behind his sunglasses.

Ignoring both men, Rogue took the key and stormed back outside into the rain without looking back. She located their room, at the far end of the drive in complex and opened the door. She made no effort to hold the door for Gambit and heard his muffled but amused curse as he caught the door before it hit him in the face.

"Looks like you've got a new admirer, chérie," Remy teased as he stepped inside. Rogue waited for him to realize how many beds were in the room. He didn't disappoint. "But apparently you like me more."

"Can it, Cajun!" she snapped, willing the blush she could feel on her face to fade. "It was the only room left."

Remy chuckled and let it go with a quick quip. "At least we won't have any nightmares," he said and headed for the bathroom.

Rogue rolled her eyes at his words.

After leaving the bar the night before they'd both crashed, in separate beds. But her nightmares had returned, waking them both almost immediately. Without a word, he'd simply tugged on full fingered gloves, pulled her into the bed with him, and they'd gone back to sleep. He'd startled them both at some point during the night, muttering in angry French, but he'd stopped when she'd spoken to him. He'd settled back to sleep after tightening his hold around her waist. Exactly why they were good at calming each other after a nightmare wasn't something she was inclined to think too much about. Even if she had spent most of the drive doing exactly that.

She pulled off her soaked jacket and ballet top. She replaced them with Mercy's sweatshirt quickly, before Gambit could come out of the bathroom, and spread the two soggy pieces of clothing out on the table and chairs to dry.

Gambit exited the bathroom shirtless, but headed straight for his traveling bag and pulled out the long sleeved t-shirt he'd been sleeping in.

It took Rogue several blinking seconds to find her voice. She was so accustomed to people avoiding being near her without multiple layers of barriers that his nonchalance stunned her. And he wasn't exactly hard to look at either. To distract herself from doing just that she dug through her bag, pulling out the burn phone and her book.

"Once the storm lets up Ah'll call Logan. Let him know we didn't make it all the way to Knoxville," she said drawing Remy's attention away from the TV and the giant crack of thunder outside.

Remy nodded, pointing with the hand holding the remote at the television. "Doubt he made it all the way either, chérie." The meteorologist on the TV was helpfully pointing out the storm system situated over western Virginia, West Virginia, and eastern Kentucky and Tennessee.

Having nowhere else to sit that wasn't being used to dry clothes Rogue settled next to Gambit on the bed while he flipped channels. It didn't take long before she was absorbed in the world of Sir Gawain. What the book lacked in vampires and werewolves, it made up for with sorcerers, shape-shifting witches, and battles. The book was a novelization of the old English tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a story Rogue had enjoyed when they read it in literature class.

She was firmly entranced in the battle ranging on the walls of Pen Marhas when Gambit's laughter interrupted her. Blinking as she returned to reality from medieval England, she looked at Remy with an eyebrow raised in annoyance. "What?" she asked, none too politely.

Red eyes glinting with mirth, he asked, "Anyone ever told you that you make faces while you read?"

Rogue blushed, reaching out and smacking him with her book. It was a habit that she was unable to break as she made the faces without realizing she was doing so. She did the same thing when watching TV. It was horribly embarrassing whenever someone realized she did that. "What, the TV not entertaining enough for you?" she snarked, not answering his question.

Gambit gave her an amused, slightly sheepish look. "You're cute, and there's nothin' on."

Rogue just stared at him for a moment. He thought she was cute. She was torn between quiet excitement at his open admiration and annoyance that he felt 'cute' was an appropriate word to describe her. A lot of different words had been used to describe her in the past. Cute wasn't one of them. Cute wasn't the look she was going for. Kitty was cute, not Rogue. But she couldn't quite shake the thrill that _he _thought _she_ was cute.

Rogue shook off her musings, mentally slapping herself for having such a moment. Aiming to reclaim her self-respect, she taunted Remy. "You have your cards. Entertain yourself. Without botherin' me." She gave him haughty glare and returned to her book.

Gambit's chuckle didn't let her get very far. "More fun if I have someone to play with."

Rogue looked at him flatly, unimpressed. She wasn't stupid enough to walk into the double entendres lingering around that remark.

Giving her a sly smirk, he pulled out his deck of cards. A couple of lazy looking shuffles and he dealt them each a hand of Texas Hold'Em. "Know how to play?" he asked lightly.

Surprised that he was pushing issue, Rogue set her book down. "Not really. Ah've watched Logan play a few times, but that all."

He flipped all the cards over face up and patiently walked her through the rules of the game, explaining what and why he would bet given his cards and doing the same with hers. One at a time he laid out the remaining cards, finally dealing the river. Rogue asked a few more questions, orienting herself to the game.

They played a few friendly hands, Gambit wiping the floor with her each time. By the fifth hand, Rogue was getting the hang of the game and able to at least make reasonable bets and decisions. They played a few more hands before Rogue's attention span began to wane.

Gambit switched the game to gin. Intended for only two players, it held Rogue's attention longer.

Sitting side by side at the head of the bed, feet stretched out in front of them, the discard and drawing card piles set neatly between them, Rogue uneasily eyed Gambit.

If she discarded her eight of spades, she was relatively certain the sneaky Cajun beside her would pick it up, placing him that much closer to gin. She just didn't know how much closer. Would it just be one more card, or was he waiting on that card in particular? But unless she dumped the eight, she couldn't draw a new one. And she needed either the six or ten of clubs for gin or a five or lower of anything to be underneath the down card.

Gambit returned her appraising stare with an entirely too smug smirk.

Finally making her decision, she discarded the eight of spades. She drew. The six of hearts. Keeping her face impassive, she masked her frustration at getting a worthless card.

Remy calmly picked up her eight of spades, and with a totally unrepentant grin, flipped his discard face down on the pile and lazily announced "gin."

With a growl, Rogue threw her cards at him.

Remy laughed. "Not my fault, Chérie. Luck of the draw."

Rogue glared, but humor was shining in her eyes. That was the second hand in a row he'd won. She was down two games to one. "Best three out of five, Cajun. Ah refuse to lose to you again."

Gambit grinned teasingly at her. "So then I just have to win one more."

She elbowed him in the ribs. "Can it, Swamp Rat. Deal." She gestured at the spot between them they were using a card table.

Gambit amiably complied, his thieving hands dealing the cards with ease. Drawing the first card, he decided he didn't want it and discarded it. "You keep coming up with new nicknames for me. You're not careful, I'm gonna think you might like me."

He said the words offhandedly, as though he wasn't fishing for information on what she thought of him. Or he could just be trying to make her blush. She'd noticed he enjoyed getting that reaction out of her.

Unwilling to give away the information, especially since she wasn't entirely sure exactly felt about him and his too smooth smiles now that they were together again, she countered with a snort while she drew her own card. "Just how long have you been calling me 'chérie'?" She distinctly remembered him calling her that when he'd sneakily conned her and Kitty into following the Brotherhood when they went to free Pietro from police custody.

Gambit slid an amused glance her way before picking up the three of hearts she'd rejected. "It suits you," was all he said.

"And Swamp Rat fits you." She picked up the jack of clubs he didn't want. Nine, ten, jack, and queen of clubs. That was her four set. She'd been dealt the two of hearts and spades. And had a nice little run starting with the eight and nine of diamonds. Another two, either diamonds or clubs, or either the seven or ten of diamonds and she'd gin.

They played in companionable silence for several minutes. Remy discarded the two of diamonds, but picked up the four of hearts she dumped. He had a run of low hearts. A few more useless draws, though she picked up and dumped the queen of spades just to keep Remy guessing, and she drew the ten of diamonds.

With a Cheshire cat grin she flipped her discard face down. "Take that, Cajun."

Remy grinned, but dipped his head in acknowledgement. "Well played, chérie."

Rogue dealt the next hand.

She must have jinxed herself. She wound up stuck waiting for the ace of hearts while Gambit pulled the last card he needed. It wasn't a pretty hand for either of them, but he pulled it out in the end. Not so gracefully conceding defeat, Rogue groused teasingly the whole walk to the only restaurant near their little hotel.

It was another little dive, but it lacked the menu of their previous night's location. Two less than fabulous burgers later and they wandered back to their hotel. It was dark and still raining, but the thunder had moved on.

After changing into her borrowed long sleeved t-shirt and leggings Rogue called Logan. The storm had held him up too. He was stuck in Wytheville, Virginia. They made plans to meet up in Johnson City, Tennessee the following morning. Logan would beat them there by a couple of hours, but he was planning to use the time to scout out possible locations in the surrounding forest where they could plan their battle with Scalphunter and Arclight.

Gambit discretely checked in with Henri and the Guild. It looked like they had roughly a day on Arclight and Scalphunter. The Guilds had 'given in' that morning and passed on the information that Gambit and Anna James were headed north on a job. If their luck held and the two Marauders followed the trail of Anna's credit card, they should hopefully be no closer to them than Memphis if not farther north on I-55. Both wished they'd been able to put more distance between themselves and Memphis, but they had no control over the weather. And while they could have ditched the bike and picked up a car in larger city, Monterey wasn't offering much help in that regard. They wanted to avoid attention, especially from local police.

They settled into bed, Gambit flipping channels on the TV while she read. Eventually she pulled herself out of the book, knowing they needed to leave early to put more distance between themselves and the trailing Marauders. With a sigh she settled on her side, feeling herself relax as Gambit turned off the TV and wrapped an arm around her waist. Trying not to think about how much it felt like the routine of a well established couple, they both drifted to sleep.

* * *

><p><em>Aww. Aren't they cute. Next time we'll throw Logan into the mix and see just how he affects our duo. Stay tuned for more...<br>_

* * *

><p><em>On a completely off the topic note. I learned to play gin with father and grandfather when I about seven. I completely suck at poker, but none of my friends in college would play gin with me because I nearly always won. That said, I can count on one hand the number of times I've beaten my grandfather. He turns 92 next week and is dying of cancer and old age. But he can still beat me at gin! It's pretty cool. And one of the things I will miss the most about him when he's gone. We've have a lot of fun playing over the years. <em>

_And what's totally crazy is that he tells of riding a train from New York to Chicago in the early 50's where he and this guy spent the trip playing gin using pennies to bet on hands. At the end of that train ride my grandfather owed him 10 dollars (betting in pennies!). I cannot imagine the skill level of that guy. But I was feeling nostalgic as I wrote the gin scene, thinking of playing with my dad and losing to my grandfather. :-) I love you, Grandad._


	12. Chapter 11

_I have not had time to answer the reviews that came in. My grandfather died on Tuesday, and we've all been focused on funeral plans and helping my grandmother arrange things. But thank you all for the awesome reviews. I will answer them when I get a chance. I hope you enjoy the chapter. MidnightManic, hold on for one more chapter and you will get your answer. Let me know what you think._

_Layla_

* * *

><p>The motel room was tiny, even given their previous night's stops, and not in the best section of town. Rogue leaned against the tiny dresser as she gave Logan directions to the motel they'd found for the night. Focused on converting their eastbound path into westbound directions for Logan, she wasn't paying any attention to Remy until she felt his hand brush against her lower back as he slipped past her into the bathroom to grab a shower.<p>

Her voice caught just for a moment in surprise at the touch. Thankfully Logan was focused on remembering her instructions and didn't notice her momentary lapse. Her eyes rested on her image in the mirror, focused on the spot near her hip where Gambit's hand had touched her. Silently shaking her head to clear it she finished giving Logan the directions and then tossed the phone on the bed opposite her.

Rogue pulled her book from its place in her bag determinedly. She didn't want to think about why she was suddenly so nervous about having Gambit and Logan in the same room. She flopped down on her stomach on the empty bed and tried to focus on the sorcerer wreaking havoc in her book.

She tossed the book down in frustration after about thirty seconds. She was being stupid. He'd simply brushed his hand against her as he passed. One of those courtesy gestures people made when they had to squish into someone else's personal space to pass. It didn't mean anything.

But it had been so casual. He hadn't even thought about it, just gently rested his hand on her back above her hip bone. He hadn't hesitated or made a production out of keeping his hands away from any possible skin contact. In fact, Gambit hadn't even looked at her. His eyes and been looking forward, in the direction he was going.

When had she and Remy gotten so comfortable that they thought nothing of touching each other as they passed? Even better question: Had anyone been that comfortable with her since her mutation had manifested? Or been willing to push her boundaries enough to put themselves in that situation?

It was the last thought that stuck with here. Logan didn't make a production out of touching her. Neither did Kurt. Or Storm. Or Kitty. But they only touched her in times of serious stress. After a battle, a reassuring hug that she wasn't alone while in the Med lab, an arm around her after her 'kidnapping'. But in general no one touched her.

Because she nearly always pulled away when someone tried.

Touching her was risky, so she made it clear that no one should. And touching was sign of an emotional bond. Emotional bonds were dangerous. They meant she could get hurt when the other person left her or betrayed her or used her. It was safer to keep everyone at a distance. No one could hurt her that way.

She frowned fiercely at that thought. It made her sound like some complete hermit living in a cave somewhere. And that wasn't true. She had a family and friends. Maybe she wasn't the most social and open member of the family, but she belonged with the X-Men. And because Logan, Kurt, and Kitty were her friends and family, they respected her desire to limit touch. They understood that to her the consequence of touch could be extremely high and respected her choices.

And yet somehow, in three days…was it really only three days? In three days Remy had managed to gently push past her barriers. He had no problem with touching her, mutation and all. He'd been the one to pull her into bed that first afternoon. She blushed at the thought. It sounded much more seductive and sexual when phrased that way. But he had pulled her into bed with him. To ease her fear and disorientation caused by the nightmares, he'd held her close. He'd known she was afraid of hurting him, addressed it by telling her not worry, and then held her without a second thought.

And she'd liked it. She'd spent the entire drive from Vicksburg to Monterey mentally working through her feelings on the subject. That was the great thing about motorcycles. No conversation to maintain. Of course she hadn't come to any useful or clear conclusions during that time. She'd finally given up and settled for the idea that having his warmth nearby was reassuring.

Part of her rebelled against that idea. She was Rogue: tough, untouchable and forced to be content with being on her own. She wasn't supposed to like having Gambit hold her while she slept. She wasn't supposed to need someone to keep the boogeyman away. She could take care of herself. But she couldn't deny that it had been nice. So had the card games and the shared planning and tactics. And the smiles and the flirting. Except for the blushing part. She could do without that. But she had to give him credit. She smiled more when she was with him.

For three days it had been just the two of them. Stuck in an awkward, high stress situation. They'd been depending on and trusting each other because they had to. And just like the first time they did well together, had fun in spite of the situation. But they'd never really been together when they weren't alone. They'd always connected when it was just them.

But Logan was on his way. He'd be there in just a few minutes. And Rogue wasn't sure how a third presence, particularly since it was Logan, was going change the way she and Remy interacted.

They'd made no promises to each other. They weren't in any kind of a relationship. They were together because for the moment they had to be. But that didn't mean that once this was over it would still be that way. She had her life, and Gambit had his, whatever that meant.

But there was no way Logan wouldn't notice the easy way she and Remy moved around each other. Some of that could be written off due to spending numerous hours together in close proximity on a motorcycle. But other things, like that little brush of his hand against her waist, which she probably wouldn't have thought anything about if she hadn't been on the phone with Logan at the time, were going to stand out. Logan noticed everything and would have no problem asking her exactly what it meant.

And that was the problem. She didn't have an answer to give him. She wasn't even sure there was an answer she wanted to give him.

If Remy left after the Marauders were dealt with they'd both be fine. She'd keep the cards he'd given her as quiet reminders of the fun they'd had, but that would be all. She would go on as she had been. And Remy would do his thieving thing. No doubt he would surrounded by beautiful women in no time.

She'd miss him for a few days if he left. And probably the next time she had a nightmare. He'd most likely end up with the distinction of being the only man she'd ever slept beside.

But what would happen if he stayed? She'd offered him the Professor's ever-present welcome. But she hadn't thought through what it would mean if he stayed.

They'd be team mates and friends, hopefully. But how would she feel when a touchable, beautiful woman caught his eye. Instead of the women being undefined figments of her imagination, she'd be able to watch as he lived up to the reputation that surrounded him. Somehow that seemed a lot harder now than it had at the restaurant in Vicksburg. Watching as the flirty warmth he always used with her was pulled away and turned on another woman.

The whole issue with his marrying Bella Donna had been easy to handle because she hadn't seen him in months. Yes she'd been attracted to him, but a months old illicit rescue mission hadn't given her any hold over him. It was a pretty idea, not reality. But the nights sleeping tucked up next to him and the card games and quiet conversations had moved their relationship from cautious but friendlyish acquaintances into something a little more solid. Sort of. Maybe.

Rogue grimaced as she heard the shower turn off. She needed put her brooding away now. She pushed away Remy's psyche which was trying to comment on her musings, not wanting to hear his opinion. Hearing the bathroom door open, she quickly turned her attention to her book, her eyes on the pages but not taking in the words.

She could hear Remy moving around but didn't look at him. She was so focused on not paying attention to him that Logan's quiet knock on the door made her jump in surprise.

She heard Remy snicker at her response and glared at him, more heat in the glance than she'd intended, and out of the corner of her eye she saw his head tilt to the side as he studied her. She opened the door to the hotel carefully, keeping herself hidden inside the room and out of sight of anyone who might be watching.

Logan stalked in, his eyes taking in the details around him. Rogue risked a glance at the room as she shut the door and mentally gave herself bonus points for choosing to read on the bed without the cell phone. At first glance it appeared that she'd claimed the far bed, her book and the mussed comforter stating her presence, while Gambit's dirty clothes were on the other bed as he packed them away into his bag.

"You okay, Stripes?" Logan asked looking her in the eye.

"Ah'm fine, Logan," she said with a small smile and rolled her eyes.

He turned his dark eyes on Gambit and Rogue silently watched the two appraise each other. Finally Logan growled out. "Yer lucky I know you didn't start this."

Gambit smirked and raised an eyebrow. "You kill me now, just leaves more work when you deal with the Marauders."

Logan snorted. "Been down that road, kid. Handled it before."

Remy nodded his head slightly without breaking Logan's gaze, acknowledging the truth of the statement. His empathy picked up Logan's cautious suspicion and Rogue's growing annoyance. He turned the conversation to something more relevant. "You find anything promising?"

Logan relaxed his intimidating posture a fraction and moved to lean against the wall across from Gambit where he could watch both of them. Rogue leaned against the door, not standing near either man. It felt an awful lot like two pit bulls eyeing each other before a fight and she didn't want to end up in the middle any more than she already was.

"Lots of national forest just south of here. Not a lot of population. We manage to keep it on the ground and we should be good. You two leave them a trail to follow?" Logan asked.

Rogue nodded once. "We paid for the room with the Anna James credit card. They know we're here."

Logan grunted at that and glared at Gambit, but didn't make a comment. He'd never been a fan of the 'Rogue pretending to be Gambit's lover' part of the plan. "Any idea how far they are from here?"

"Non. Last clue we knowin'ly dropped was in Memphis about going north to Chicago. Don't know if they bought it or not. They could be as far away as the Windy City or they could be in Johnson City with us."

Logan nodded, not surprised. "Charles is watching the area with Cerebro. If we get lucky he might be able to trace them. Assuming the worst, but most likely case they'll get here tomorrow."

Gambit nodded. "That's what I'm thinkin' too. Figure we gotta be up and outta here early. Leave a little note for them. They'll know I know they're comin' after the set up in Memphis. So we just set up and wait 'til they arrive."

Rogue snorted. "Ah love mindless waitin'."

Gambit smirked at her. "We can work on your poker game, chérie."

The smile that tugged at her lips was reflexive. She caught his gaze for a second, that easy air between them connecting for a moment, and then remembered Logan was watching. She forced her smile away and turned a neutral look at Logan.

Logan raised an eyebrow but made no comment. "You have a map?"

Gambit nodded once and fished it out of his bag.

The three of them crowded around the tiny table in the room as Logan pointed out the location that he'd scouted. He highlighted several of the natural defenses the area contained and pointed out the location where he intended Laura would park Velocity when he called her in.

Looking confused at that statement, Gambit questioned, "Who's Laura? I don't remember her."

"X-23," was Logan's only response, which meant nothing to Gambit. He turned to look at Rogue questioningly.

She shrugged, not knowing all that many details herself, and not wanting to get into specifics since she knew it made Logan uncomfortable. "Has claws and heals."

She caught the slight squint at Gambit focused on her, probably wondering why she was being abrupt. She gave him a small shake of her head and flicked her eyes toward Logan. Gambit accepted the gesture and let it go. Turning to look back at the map, Rogue muffled a sigh. The whole thing was too awkward, and she wasn't making things any better. Before she could make an equally awkward attempt to smooth things over Remy spoke up.

"So aside from your new fille and the plastic plane, what's the exit strategy?" Gambit's tone was deceptively calm as he addressed Logan.

Rogue looked at him in confusion, a sarcastic response dying on her lips when she saw the look he was giving Logan, that of a predator waiting to be turned lose.

She turned to look at Logan, not liking the way he was appraising Gambit. She liked it even less when he turned that look on her. She glanced at Remy to find him watching her with same expression.

"What?" she asked in sharp annoyance.

Logan sighed and pulled a small package out of a pocked in his jacket. He tugged on a twine string and let the package open to reveal three syringes. "Hank sent these. Strong enough to knock me out for three days solid. _If_ we can, we use these. Knock them out with this and leave them for Fury. I don't want them anywhere near Bayville."

Gambit gave a grim smile. "And if we can't get close enough?"

Logan gave him a deadly one in return. "Then we do what we have to."

Gambit nodded. "Agreed."

Rogue looked warily between the two men, but said nothing. She'd known from the beginning that stopping the two Marauders might mean killing them. She didn't particularly like that thought, but after seeing what Essex was doing to his patients, Rogue couldn't really bring herself to be that upset by the deaths of two of his henchmen. But knowing that Logan and Remy were both so easily ready for that eventuality was a bit unsettling.

Not wanting to dwell on that thought she steered the conversation back to planning, and the three organized themselves for the night. Logan would stop by a nearby Wal-Mart and gather some supplies. He would fend for himself for the evening, avoiding being seen with the two. Rogue and Gambit would continue their pattern of grabbing a local dinner and then chill in their hotel room. The goal was to keep the Marauders from realizing that anyone was with them. They wanted the two hunters to only be aware of two opponents.

Their plans loosely decided Logan started to leave. He paused at the door and turned a leveling glare at Gambit. "You keep your hands to yourself, Bub."

Rogue felt her cheeks burn at his words. "Logan!" she hissed in angry embarrassment.

Gambit held his gaze without flinching. "I'm not trying to hurt her," he drawled as he leaned casually against the wall.

Logan grunted and tossed back as he left, "Just keep remembering that."

With a growl of annoyance and frustration Rogue stomped over to her bed and threw herself down. She could feel Remy's eyes on her, but he made no comment. For the first time since she'd surprised him in his living room an awkward tension settled between the two of them.


	13. Chapter 12

_Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! I really appreciate all of them. Here is the next chapter. It's a little shorter, but hopefully not too mushy. If it ended up boring, overly mushy, and predictable let me know. I tried to avoid it. _

_As always, I don't own either Marvel or the X-Men. I hope you all enjoy it!_

_Layla_

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><p>Rogue thundered into the women's restroom after an extremely silent and edgy dinner between her and Gambit. He could obviously read her tension and was uncertain of the source, and she didn't even know how to begin to explain why she was suddenly so edgy. Not without sounding like a dumb, insecure female. And she prided herself on not being one of those.<p>

She washed her hands as she left, drying her them before she put her gloves back on. Ignoring the other patrons of the restaurant she exited, drawing a deep breath of the cold night air to try and settle her nerves.

Letting her eyes adjust to the darkness she spotted Gambit leaning against a wooden parking barrier, a cigarette held casually between two fully gloved fingers. Watching his glowing eyes as she approached, she rested her forearms against the wood.

"You taking back your offer?" he asked, his voice deceptively casual as he let his eyes wander around the parking lot.

"What? No," she stumbled, knowing it was both true and not true. "Just thinking about tomorrow."

He snorted mirthlessly. "You ain't much of a liar, Rogue. You want to take it back, take it. It's not like I need it."

She glared at him challengingly. "If you don't need it why are you so worried about my taking it away?"

They glared angrily at each other for a long moment before he looked away and took a log drag on his cigarette. "Somethin' set you off. What was it?"

She hesitated trying to find a way to answer without giving anything away. She finally settled on mild, but truthful deflection. "Logan notices everything. Ah knew he'd be suspicious of you, but Ah don't appreciate his questioning your motives like Ah'm not in the room."

Remy smirked. "He cares about you, chérie. He's gonna do that to any man who gets within 10 feet of you." He exhaled a stream of smoke. "And I did drug you and kidnap you last time."

She tossed him a half hearted glare, relieved he had accepted her answer. "Ah get him being mad last time. But this time Ah'm the one who ran. You didn't even know Ah was coming."

The smirk settled into a dangerous smile. "That's the problem. You came to me."

The look in his eyes and tone of his voice brought a blush into her cheeks, and Rogue looked away. But she couldn't let that go without defending herself. "To _help_ you. It's not like Ah got bored and thought, 'gee, Ah'll go see what Gambit's up to.'" He snickered, but she grumbled anyway. "If Ah could have warned you with a phone call Ah would have."

He eyed her curiously for a moment as he inhaled, the glowing tip of the cigarette blending with his eyes. "Would you have left it at that? Calling and then leaving it alone?"

Rogue blinked in surprise. "Ah was plannin' on it. When you sent the Ace saying you were still in New Orleans, Ah figured you'd found a reason to stay. Ah guess Ah thought if Ah warned you they were comin', your family would help you deal with it."

He nodded sideways, acknowledging her point. "Fair assumption." He paused and exhaled. "That why you're still here?"

She glanced warily at him from the corner of her eye. "It's why Logan's lettin' me be here," she said instead of answering.

Remy snorted. "I don't really care why your Wolverine is here, chérie. Just wanna know why you are."

Annoyed that he was pushing at her emotionally, she challenged back. "Why did you send me the Ace of Spades?"

He raised an eyebrow and held her gaze, his red eyes flickering with irritation. "Even trade. I answer yours; you answer mine. Deal?"

She thought about it for a minute, but curiosity got the better of her. "You first."

He rolled his eyes at her, but answered anyway. "I saw you on the news. When you were fighting Apocalypse. Saw Piotr and the others. I realized you guys had gone asking for help to hold the lines. I figured if something like that came up again, someone should know how to reach me." He stopped and watched her for a moment before continuing quietly. "Honestly, if I'd known for certain where Piotr was I'd have told him instead."

Her breath left in one quick gasp at his words, all the warm feelings that had been starting to surface evaporated, but before she could blast him with her temper and storm away he continued quietly. "I was engaged to Bella Donna, chérie. Not supposed to be thinking about you."

A funny, breathless feeling replaced the sharp hurt. "Were you? Thinkin' about me?" she asked softly, her eyes focused on his.

"More than I should have been," he answered quietly and looked away, his normally teasing and smooth mannerisms giving way to something less certain. "Especially once I sent that card."

Turning to stare blankly at the road in front of the restaurant, Rogue tried to assimilate the new information. And come up with a real answer to the questioned he'd bargained out of her. She couldn't duck and fade if he hadn't. Nor could she completely ignore the fluttering in her stomach. He'd been thinking about her. And because he'd been engaged at the time it had bothered him. She kind of liked that. Maybe more than kind of.

"Your turn, Rogue," he drawled, his voice returning to its normal tone.

It took her a couple of tries to get her mouth and brain on the same page in order to answer. "You helped me. The whole being drugged and kidnapped thing sucked. Ah still hate having my decisions dictated, by anyone," her voice held a slight edge as she remembered waking up tied on the train. It softened as she continued. "But you were right about my needin' to get away. Runnin' around New Orleans helped me clear my head. Ah thought this time Ah could…" she trailed off. She could what? Help? Not leave him to face this alone?

"They want your eyes!" It came out as a strangled sort of yell. "Ah saw what he did to those people, Remy. And then reading your file, what he did to you. And your father just left you to them! You went back and nearly got yourself killed to help him. And he just left you to them!"

She forced herself to focus her scattered thoughts and raging anger at Jean-Luc and turned to face him. "You said Ah had people watching out for me. Ah'm guess watching out for you too. That's what friends do. Even friends with as … weird a history as ours."

Gambit tilted his head to the side and a smile tugged at the corner of his lips, his eyes shining just a little brighter. "You kept the cards."

That wasn't the response she'd expected.

But the blush on her cheeks made a denial impossible. "They're on my dresser mirror." It was the closest she could come to saying she'd been thinking about him too.

He chuckled softly, stepping on the burned out butt of his cigarette. He turned around and faced the street, leaning lazily against the wooden barrier, staring out at the street. They were both quiet for a moment.

Remy sighed, drawing her attention. He turned and faced her, reaching up with one hand to brush her bangs out of her eyes. "So what are we, chérie? Friends? Or something more?"

His eyes pulled at her, the same way they had the day they'd met. Beautiful, dangerous eyes that were looking squarely at her. Her words came out as a whisper. "You'll get bored."

She hadn't meant to tell him that. Darn his eyes for always making her tell the truth.

His head cocked to the side as he looked at her in confusion.

The blush that had been on her face all night deepened, creeping down her neck. She had to be flame red by now. There was no way this conversation couldn't be horribly embarrassing and uncomfortable. "You can't touch me, Remy. And Ah know your reputation. Between Julian and Piotr Ah know that it ain't all rumor. You like girls you can touch. So why is it you're lookin' at me?"

Instead of casually dismissing her fear like she expected he stopped and considered her words. "I've been 'looking at you' since before I knew I couldn't touch you," he said finally. When she raised an eyebrow in disbelief he clarified. "I didn't know you were Xavier's absorber. It wasn't until I noticed your glove was off that I figured out you were that mutant. By then, I was already looking." He smirked. "And we both know I didn't stop looking once I knew."

"No," she interjected, "you just tried to blow my hand off."

He sounded entirely too innocent as he drawled, "I gave you plenty of time to throw it away."

She snorted.

He shifted his shoulders uneasily before returning to the original topic. "You aren't wrong about the other girls. But they were just for fun. And they knew that. I don't want that with you." He looked at her carefully. "I've never done the relationship thing, Rogue. We try this? I'll probably make a mess of it before either of us knows what happened. But I can tell you this, if we try, there's only you. No one else on the side." He paused for a moment and his serious expression softened into something teasing and playful. "Besides. I can't touch your skin with my skin. That don't mean we can't touch."

He reached an arm out, lightly wrapping it around her waist and tugging her to him. Unsure where to put her hands, they stuttered a few times before coming to rest softly against his chest, her fingers playing with the buttons on the duster's edge. As his other arm came around her, Rogue wondered why standing there in the parking lot of a dumb little restaurant felt so much more intimate than his arm around her waist as they slept.

"So, we doing this, chérie?" he asked quietly, his gloved thumb lightly tracing patterns against the skin left bare at her waist by her ballet top.

She looked up at him, slightly surprised at the height difference when she was that close to him, and whispered a warning. "Ah don't know what Ah'm doing." Her words were hesitant, but her grip on his jacket tightened.

Remy shrugged, drawing her in a little closer. "Me either. Guess we'll figure it out together."

Rogue couldn't quite hide the smile that was tugging on her lips. Together. She liked the sound of that. "So you're going to be an X-Man?" she asked slyly.

He smirked at her. "Only if I get a say on the uniform. M'not wearing the boring one the newbies have."

She grinned. "You'll have to take orders from Scott," she teasingly reminded him.

Gambit snorted. "Yeah, we'll see how that goes." She got the distinct impression he wasn't looking forward to that part.

He reached up with one hand and trailed his gloved fingertips down her cheek bone before brushing her white bangs off of her face, his eyes watching her intently the whole time. "You're crazy, chérie, taking a chance on a thief."

The warmth in his eyes and his voice brought her blush back to full strength. Trying to hide her reaction to him, she tipped her face into his chest, careful to keep her skin away from his. "You're the one tryin' for a girl who can't touch."

Remy's response was to pull her more tightly against him, hugging her to his chest and resting his chin against the top of her head. They stayed that way for several moments before he whispered. "I like holding you, chèrie."

Although he couldn't see it Rogue grinned and whispered back. "I like it when you hold me."

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><p><em>Yay Romy. Hopefully. Ready for the big fight?<em>


	14. Chapter 13

_Hello all! Sorry for the delay. I woke up with a migraine last Saturday that lingered until Tuesday evening. I ended up so behind that this is my first real chance to focus on this. But I'm here now!_

_Thank you to all the folks who reviewed the last chapter. I'm so glad everyone liked the Romy mush! You all are so sweet and so much fun! And to all the alerts and favorites, thank you all too! _ _I can't tell you how much everyone's support means._

_As always I don't own anything but the annoyed giant schnauzer beside me. She thinks I should be petting her instead of typing._

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><p>Dawn broke cold and clear over the mountains of eastern Tennessee. Wrapped up in Mercy's coat and clothes, Rogue held tightly to Gambit as he drove the motorcycle to where they'd planned to meet up with Logan. She was tense but calm as she mentally prepared for what she knew was going to be a difficult fight. Remy dropped her off in the clearing where Logan was waiting before riding off to park the bike where Logan had parked his, well out of the way of the upcoming action.<p>

Standing with one hand on her hip she eyed Logan warily as he watched Gambit leave. With a resigned and gruff sigh, Logan focused on her. "I take it the Cajun is coming back with us," he said without enthusiasm.

Rogue narrowed her eyes. "He's got nowhere else to go, Logan. He's tryin' to get _out_ of the Guild. And the professor's always talkin' about second chances." Her voice trailed off at the end, realizing she and Gambit had made their decisions without ever confirming with the professor that he could join the X-Men.

Logan snorted and gave her what passed as a sardonic smile for him. "The prof thinks it's a great idea. If you hadn't already asked, I was supposed to." He paused. "Glad I don't have to."

Rogue hid her own smirk at his words. Typical Logan. "You're willin' to help him with the Marauders. Why's it so hard to believe he wants to leave the Guild behind?"

Logan rolled his eyes. "It ain't the thieving I'm worried about, kid. I don't like the way he looks at you."

Rogue glared, crossing her arms over her chest and willing the heat in her cheeks to fade. As often as Gambit made her blush, she half wondered if it wouldn't end up permanently coloring her face. "You don't have a problem with Scott lookin' at Jean."

Logan grinned. "Sure I do. But we both know Shades isn't the trouble maker in that relationship. You and Gambit? Not sure which one will get the other into more trouble." He raised an eyebrow at her in challenge.

"It's not like Ah go lookin' for trouble," she muttered, looking away.

He snorted in protest but left it at that.

Conversations with Logan always worked that way. He pushed. She pushed. But in the end they both said their piece and let it be. For a while anyway. It's why they got along so well.

He had just finished giving her the layout of the land when Gambit jogged up. "They set off the alarm I left in the hotel room about twenty minutes ago. Shouldn't be too long before they get here."

Rogue looked at him in surprise. She'd seen him playing with some wires while she packed that morning, but she hadn't realized he'd actually been doing anything at the time. "You made an alarm with three wires and some chewing gum?" she asked.

He shrugged. "And the burn phone. I set it to autodial when they picked it up. Nothin' fancy."

Rogue glanced at Logan. He didn't seem that impressed. Apparently she was the only who didn't know how to MacGuyver an alarm out of a cell phone. She rolled her eyes at both of them, slid out of Mercy's coat and placed it on the ground beneath a tree where it would be out of the way.

Logan turned to her. "These two aren't the kind you want to have running around upstairs, kid. If you can avoid absorbing them, do. You don't need their trash in yer head." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the three syringes, handing one to her and one to Gambit. "Use'em if you can."

Logan broke off speaking, his head turning slightly as he listened. "They're almost here. Just a few miles out. Unless we have other performance engines in the neighborhood." He turned to Rogue. "Be careful, kid. These two don't play nice. And watch your left side. You're still leaving it open after a kick." He glanced at Gambit. "They don't get past us."

Rogue glanced at Remy in time to see him nod at Logan. The two men shared a ruthless grin before Gambit turned to her. He raised her hand to his mouth with a warm look, the quick kiss on her knuckles making her cheeks flush and that funny feeling rush back into her stomach.

They both grinned at Logan's growl of annoyance, and then the three spread out to wait.

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><p>Remy leaned languidly against a tree, his own hearing now picking up the sound of an approaching car. He saw no reason to waste effort on standing upright when he could take the last few minutes to relax and enjoy watching Rogue pace like a trapped lioness.<p>

She had the kind of restless energy before battle that he'd long since had beaten out of him. It reminded him of just how young she was behind all the masks and quick temper. She noticed him watching and sent a quick, almost bashful smile as she paced.

The thought that he was letting a beautiful young woman have entirely too much control over his future crossed his mind, but he pushed it away. Yes, Rogue was part of why he was going to try being one of Xavier's X-Men, but she wasn't all of it. The more he'd considered what he would do and where he would go after leaving the Guild, the less he liked any of the other options. Although at the moment he really wished that Rogue wasn't involved at all.

The idea that she could get seriously injured dealing with his past bothered him a lot. He knew she was good in a fight. She was one of best X-Men when it came to hand to hand combat. But she'd been trained to defend and protect. The Marauders not so much. He figured the closest she'd come to fighting this sort of enemy was fighting Apocalypse's horsemen, and that had been something like six or seven against one. Two against three was a very different matter.

He straightened up as a sporty Mercedes coupe slid to a stop in front of them, pulling just off the road. As Scalphunter and Arclight approached, he gave them a quick look over. They didn't appear to have changed much since he'd seen them last.

Scalphunter still wore his extremely practical and very dumb looking mechanical part body suit. Gambit muffled a snicker, but knew better than to discount the results of the outfit. The bodysuit was storage for hundreds of different firing pins, gun barrels, magazines and other items which allowed Scalphunter to build up and break down weapons and tools with his mutant technoformation skills in very little time. On more than one occasion Gambit had been him assemble unique projectile launching systems and then dead-eye shoot a long distance target like it was nothing.

Arclight was still so muscled and strong that she had an almost masculine form. Gambit had seen her once or twice when she was off duty and knew she could look as beautiful and feminine as any other woman, but she used muscle and a slightly male stride to intimidate her opponents when working. A side effect of having worked as the only woman in an all male military special ops environment long before any other woman had even considered attempting it.

In terms of mutant power, she was a grown up and much more dangerous version of Avalanche. What Lance Alvers lacked in battle strategy and control Arclight had in spades. Combined with her natural resistance to injury and enhanced strength, she was a formidable opponent.

The two Marauders seemed momentarily surprised to find Logan there. Arclight in particular made a point of looking at him carefully as though trying to determine why he looked familiar, but it only lasted a brief second before her face was once again an impenetrable mask.

Smiling wickedly at the two newcomers he started shuffling his cards between his hands. "Long time no see. Shame it wasn't longer," he greeted.

Scalphunter sneered at him and separated from Arclight, leaving Logan and Rogue to her and moving to engage Gambit. There was an awkward pause while all five of them waited to see who would make the first move.

A rumble coming up from the ground spurred Gambit into motion. He tossed two cards, both charged to a bright, burning magenta. The blast disrupted Arclight's pending earth quake, but Gambit didn't stop to worry about her. Scalphunter had dodged the card's blast, throwing himself to sideways, his hands snapping pieces of metal together even as he landed on his side.

Gambit jumped, pushing off the ground with his half extended bow staff, his left leg narrowly staying below whatever it was that Scalphunter shot at him. Only barely registering the sounds of the other fight, Remy tossed another charged card at Scalphunter, forcing the man to shoot wide as he dodged the explosive.

With a viciously gleeful grin, Scalphunter swung his leg out, partially knocking Remy's legs out from under him. Rolling as he landed, Gambit used an arm to push himself to his feet. Unable to entirely block the incoming punch, Remy turned his head with it, deflecting as much force as he could. The two grappled for a moment, Gambit twisting and using the older man's weight against him temporarily in spite of the ringing in his ears.

He managed to throw Scalphunter down, but before he could reach for the syringe tucked away in a pocket of his trench coat a bone shaking rumble from the ground below him nearly knocked him over. In the second it took Remy to regain his balance the Native American man rolled out of reach and to his feet.

Risking a glance behind him, Remy saw Rogue dodge a kick from Arclight, but didn't watch long enough to see Logan plow into her from the side. He heard an agonized yell from a female, but barely had time to hope it was Arclight and not Rogue before he was moving forward and darting away from what he thought was a small caliber bullet fired at him, trying to maneuver so that Scalphunter always fired away from Logan and Rogue as he tried to hit Remy.

A sharp kick forced Scalphunter to drop the gun to avoid getting his wrist broken. Remy landed a quick jab to Scalphunter's throat, temporarily leaving the man gasping for breath and scrambling to get clear for a moment to regroup. Pressing his advantage, Gambit grabbed the syringe, keeping it slightly behind him in his left hand, leaving his right hand free to hold the bo staff.

Scalphunter feinted right, forcing Gambit to shift in response, putting the other fight behind him. He brought his right arm and bo staff up in preparation for a new attack. Before he could start a sharp, slicing pain cut into his right arm, and he flinched, dropping his right arm a few inches before training overcame instinct. A throwing knife embedded itself in the ground in front of him with a _thwak_.

Before Gambit could move to assess the threat coming from behind him two female voices sliced through the air, one in surprised terror and one with growling determination. The thunder crack of a bullet followed immediately after. It took a split second for it to register with Remy that Scalphunter had intentionally shot to the left of him. The lethal grin pulling his lips back confirming even before Remy turned to look that the man had hit his mark.

Rogue had a white knuckled grip on Arclight's uncovered arm with her bare hand; a dropped throwing knife lay on the ground between them. She looked Scalphunter dead in the eye with a defiant stare. There was no hint of defeat in her eyes as she held on in spite of having been driven to her knees by his bullet hitting her in her abdomen, just eerily calm control.

Forcing himself not to focus on Rogue, Remy spun back to Scalphunter, Rogue's unnerving stare having startled the man just enough that Remy was able to drive the syringe into his right arm. Fury took hold of Remy as Scalphunter tried to fight back, his fear manifesting as rage, and Remy viciously drove the other man into the ground, pinning him down by the throat until Scalphunter was clearly unconscious. He paused to be certain the man wasn't faking before turning to Rogue.

Logan was just rising from beside Arclight, having injected her with the solution as well. It was overkill with Rogue absorbing her, but better safe than sorry.

Rogue was still on her knees, both hands now pressed against her right side, just below her ribcage. Remy dropped to a knee beside her, trying to use his own hands to put pressure on the wound.

Rogue pushed his hands away. "Don't...touch my …skin," she gasped, trying to protect him. Gambit half glared at her as he examined the exit wound on her back. Whatever it was she'd been shot with had left a reasonably small exit wound. He'd been shooting to disable, not kill. A fact which left Remy mostly relieved and vaguely worried in the back of his mind.

A quick glance around the clearing showed Logan barking orders into a cell phone. He turned toward them, glancing at Rogue as he spoke. When he ended the call he turned to Rogue. "Can you hold on a few more minutes?" he asked.

Wide-eyed and feeling a fresh surge of anger, Remy started to argue that '_No_, she could _not_ wait' when Rogue nodded and managed to whisper "Ah'll be fine," her accent thickened by pain.

Gambit gave her a look of utter disbelief. Rogue offered a weak attempt at a smile. Despite the obvious pain, he could see pride in her eyes. Whatever side effects she'd received from absorbing Arclight weren't currently manifesting; her own personality was front and center and proud of taking down a formidable enemy.

"Thought you said something last night about not doing anything stupid," he rebuked lightly, reminding her of their conversation after they returned to the hotel. Rogue again gave him a half hearted glare before closing her eyes and focusing on breathing.

Remy glanced up at Logan. The Wolverine was all but shouting a threat to whomever he was speaking, emphatically stating that if they didn't get to the unconscious Marauders in very short order, Logan wasn't responsible for the fallout. With a final snarl, Logan hung up, his eyes raising and turning to look at the sky off to the northeast.

He trotted up to Rogue and Remy. "Laura's on her way." He turned to address Gambit. "You help her clean up the field. Fury'll be here soon, and we need to be gone before they get here." Remy nodded in annoyance, trying to get him to focus on Rogue, but before he could say anything Logan had knelt and touched his bare hand to Rogue's cheek. He held on long enough for a gash that he must have received during the fight to reopen on his forehead before passing out.

Rogue snarled a very Loganish sound as she pulled his hand away, Remy helping her lay the unconscious man down. She drew a shaky deep breath and relaxed, letting Logan's healing factor take care of her injuries.

Opening her eyes she looked at Remy in confusion, sniffing the air before she focused on his arm. "You're bleeding," she said flatly, her accent barely audible in the words.

Remy looked down at his right arm in surprise. "So I am. Nothin' serious though," he said with a shrug.

Rogue rolled her eyes, and Remy couldn't decide if the gesture was hers or Logan's, but she didn't say anything. She quickly turned to survey the field, taking in all the burn marks, skids, and divots of combat in the once pristine meadow as she pulled off her bloody gloves. "Should we burn the whole thing or just muck it up some more?" she asked as she started to tuck them into the waist band of Mercy's pants for lack of a better place to put them.

Remy stopped her before she could tuck the gloves in. Moving carefully to avoid her bare hand with his half gloved fingers he took the gloves, charged them, and tossed them up into the air. They exploded and disintegrated leaving behind no visible mess.

"Without your weather witch to control the fire, I don't really want to burn too much. Be better to just mess it all up more. Be obvious something happened, but hard to say what." Remy raised an eyebrow to see if she agreed.

With a quick nod Rogue was in motion. The two worked silently, dragging fallen tree branches across the skid marks and picking up bullet casings, throwing knives, and other dropped weapons. Remy was in the process of digging a bullet out of a tree with one of Arclight's knives when the X-Men's helicopter landed near the road.

The girl that jumped out and moved to help them was younger than Gambit had expected, but she had the sort of grim determination and single mindedness that he associated only with serious combat experience. She immediately began helping Rogue and Remy.

It took another ten minutes to sufficiently confuse the scene beyond recognition. Laura had pulled a container out of the helicopter and poured whatever it held over the ground covered in Rogue's blood. He assumed the chemical would destroy any DNA evidence the blood might have revealed. With a final look around, the three managed to half carry, half drag the unconscious Logan into helicopter.

Laura immediately moved into the pilot's seat while Rogue worked to strap Logan into the copilot's seat. Holding on without strapping in, Gambit and Rogue silently waited while Laura lifted off and then settled the helicopter back down beside Remy's and Logan's bikes. It took all three of them and a conveniently located fallen tree to load the bikes into the back of the cabin and strap them down.

As Laura again lifted the helicopter into the air, Gambit grabbed an open seat behind them and fastened the buckle. Rogue walked past him, grabbing her backpack and a pack of baby wipes that came from a cabinet before moving quietly to hide behind the last row of seats out of Remy's line of sight. A few minutes later, mostly blood free and dressed her own clothes with a fresh pair of gloves, she dropped wearily into the seat beside him.

As they headed north, a trio of military helicopters came in from the east, flying low over the tree line, but making no move to follow as Laura headed around the airspace over Johnson City. Assuming that the occupants of the inbound helicopters were the people Logan had called in, Remy allowed himself to relax for the moment. The two Marauders that were hunting him had been dealt with, with minimal injuries courtesy of Logan, and he was free of the Guild.

He glanced at Rogue. She was leaning tiredly back in her seat, eyes closed. Knowing that a whole different battle would be waiting when they arrived in Bayville, Remy figured she had the right idea. Lightly twining the fingers of his right hand through her left, he settled back for a nap. Her grip tightened slightly, and Remy smiled to himself. Might as well rest while he could.

* * *

><p><em>So? Did ya like it? Tell me what you think, please!<em>

I'm off to work on the final chapter for this sucker. I've written it four times and I still don't like it! Gah! But if I get that written then I can work on The Enemy of My Enemy, which comes after Only Trying To Help. ;-)


	15. Chapter 14

_Here it is! The last chapter! I'm so excited and so sad all at once. I'm basically setting the stage for the sequel here and wrapping up a few loose ends. I hope you like how it turned out. You'll have to let me know what you think. ;-)  
><em>

_ Thank you all__ so much for all of your support. __You guys have made this so much fun. _

_I still don't own anything, so don't sue me. You won't get much beyond The Cartoon Guides to Physics and Statistics._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

><p>Scott Summers waited anxiously beside Kurt and Jean as they watched Laura bring Velocity in for a landing. Apparently he hadn't been as subtle in telling the other two about Rogue's impending arrival as he'd thought. The entire team was gathered behind him, trying to find out just what it was that had made the senior team so uptight for the past three days.<p>

Scott and Kurt had been diligent in keeping their word to Logan. They had carefully covered Rogue's absence as the rest of the mansion realized she was gone. The only one who had heard anything from them was Jean, and that had been inevitable given his psychic bond with her.

In fact the only people who hadn't asked about Rogue were Kitty and Piotr, but they had both been busily sneaking quietly around the mansion since the day before Logan's departure. What exactly it was that those two knew, Scott didn't know and hadn't asked. But he definitely was not happy about how this was playing out.

The purpose of a team was to act as a team, not to have little factions running around with mysterious goals and keeping things from each other. And it made Scott extremely nervous that Rogue had been sent on this mission alone. It didn't matter that she was female or that her mutation required close contact. He'd feel this way about any of them being sent out alone. It just wasn't safe.

But Professor Xavier had made a point of reassuring him that, in this case at least, it was best that Rogue deal with the first phase of the mission alone. And apparently she was brining a new team member back with her now that it was over, but no, he wouldn't tell them who it was ahead of time.

Scott took a deep breath and forced himself to relax. Laura had radioed in that everyone was safe. There was really no reason to continue to worry about this. It was done and over with.

A warm female chuckled sounded in his mind, the familiar sensation soothing him. _You know Logan would never allow anything to happen to Rogue," _Jean reassured lightly through their bond, her hand reaching down to take his as they waited.

Scott squeezed her hand gently. He wished he had her confidence about this. It wasn't that he didn't trust Logan or Rogue. He just couldn't shake the nagging feeling in his stomach that something was wrong.

Taking another deep breath and trying again to relax, or at least distract himself, he looked over the hastily assembled mansion inhabitants. He stopped and looked at Kitty in confusion, trying to figure out why she was standing off the side with Piotr and holding a camera in her hand. He started to ask her, when the sound of Velocity's engines overwhelmed the hanger as Laura set the helicopter down.

Forgetting about Kitty he focused on Logan as he disembarked, surprised to see that the Wolverine seemed a little groggy. Nothing that made Logan groggy was ever a good thing. "Logan, are you…" Scott trailed off in dumbfounded shock. Behind Logan, Gambit jumped to the ground, turning back to hold up a hand to Rogue.

FLASH!

The flash from Kitty's camera snapped him out of his stunned stupor. He shook his head, looking around in surprise. Just about everyone else was staring at Rogue and Gambit with the same amount of shock as he felt, except for the adults and Piotr, who looked pleased, and Kitty who looked as though the After Christmas sales had come early.

Beside him Kurt started yelling in German, his hands and tail gesturing wildly. Other than 'no' and 'my sister' Scott didn't understand a word he was saying, but he was pretty sure he felt the same way.

Scott started to step forward, intending to pointedly ask Gambit what in the heck he was doing here, when a boom of thunder sounded silencing the hanger in its wake. Apparently Storm wasn't in the mood to let them fight.

Professor Xavier rolled forward, his hands raised to placate his stunned team. "I know you are all quite surprised to find that Gambit has been involved in Rogue's latest adventure. However, he is here and will be joining our ranks."

Scott, among others, started to protest, but Xavier again raised his hands, quieting the uproar. "I know that you are all eager to hear about how this came about, but first let's make sure that there are no lingering injuries. Given the amount of blood on Gambit's clothes, I'm guessing Logan has already healed Rogue, but Beast, if you would give our recent combatants a careful going over, it would be appreciated. We will reconvene in the conference room in an hour and we will debrief. Thank you."

Scott puffed out a sigh in frustration. As the leader he now had to follow the professor's orders and get everyone moving. But that didn't mean he had to be happy about it. He gathered up Jean and Kurt and helped move the younger mutants along, but not before sending a sharp look toward Kitty and Piotr. They had not been the least bit surprised to find Gambit with Rogue. He really did not like being kept out of things. Or having his picture taken to capture his surprise. As the leader of the team he needed to know what was going on in order to make team decisions, and in this case that had clearly not happened. He should have listened to that gut feeling.

Jean placed a hand on his arm. "I know you're frustrated. But they must have had a good reason for doing what they did. Let's give them some time to get checked out, and then we'll find out what happened." She nodded resolutely. "I don't like this anymore than you do, but I think right now we need to focus on keeping Kurt sane until the debrief." There was a hint of humor in her voice as she looked pointedly at the confused and outraged teen who continued to mutter and gesture to himself in German, his tail dancing around as he walked.

* * *

><p>Rogue puffed out a sigh in annoyance as she and Remy followed Beast from the med lab to the conference room. She wasn't looking forward to being grilled about everything that had happened.<p>

Beside her Remy slipped his fingerless gloved hand into hers. "Cheer up, Chèrie. This will be fun."

Rogue turned to look at him with a dubious expression. "You think this is going to be fun?"

Gambit shrugged. "We get to annoy your uptight leader."

Rogue felt a smirk tug at the corners of her mouth. There was that. But she knew the others weren't going to be happy even after she'd explained why she'd run to New Orleans. For the Professor this would be a debriefing; for her it would be a grilling. "How much should Ah explain about the Guilds?" she asked, tugging slightly on his hand to stop him from entering the conference room.

Remy considered. "As little as possible. Guild secrets aren't meant to leave the Guild, and I don't see most of your team wantin' to respect that. It's probably safer for them if they don't know." He smirked at her and tugged her to start walking again. "No more stallin', Rogue." She sent him a death glare.

* * *

><p>Rogue was still glaring at him as they entered, and in response he raised the hand he held to his lips and kissed her knuckles with a wicked grin. Remy let her hand go and pulled out a chair for her beside Logan, taking the one on her other side.<p>

The X-Men were arrayed around the room in small clusters. The younger members watched him with slightly suspicious interest. Kitty had seen him kiss Rogue's hand and was grinning from ear to ear at Rogue. Piotr was beside her looking amused. The pretty redhead watched him thinly veiled surprise and suspicion. And Scott and Rogue's brother didn't even try to hide their anger and mistrust. Biting back a grin Remy settled back to wait for the fireworks to start.

It wasn't a long wait.

Scott spoke first, his question directed at the adults. His voice was calm, but Remy didn't need his empathy to know it would only take the slightest provocation to get his temper raging. "Professor, Logan, how could you possibly believe it was safe to let Rogue go off alone with Gambit?"

Xavier answered calmly, but with a hint of humor. "I know it comes as a surprise to you. It came as a surprise to us too. We were originally unaware that Rogue had left in order to contact Gambit." He extended his hand to Rogue, allowing her to continue the narrative.

Beside him Rogue answered, her voice already tinged toward defensive. She explained about finding the file and reading about the hired assassins. She noted that the Marauders had a possible phone number, so any call she made could be tracked back to Bayville. Remy was amused to note that she made it sound like she hadn't known it was his phone number in the file. Apparently she was keeping that little tidbit to herself. She also reminded them that they already were overwhelmed with the survivors. "So Ah snuck out of the mansion and went to warn him," she said, ending her defense.

Before her brother or Scooter could respond, an unexpected voice interrupted.

"Sneaked."

Rogue looked at Hank in confusion. "What?"

"The correct grammar usage would be 'I sneaked out of the mansion and went to warn him.'" His statement was greeted with an awkward silence.

Gambit muffled a snicker, and he heard Logan mumble something under his breath.

Rogue just gave Hank a look and said, "Right. Ah sneaked out of the mansion and went to warn him."

Given the odd look on Nightcrawler's face, Gambit suspected he was annoyed at having his thunder stolen in favor of a grammar lesson, but he finally just let loose. "YOU SNUCK OUT TO RUN OFF WITH GAMBIT ALONE? WITHOUT TELLING ANYONE?"

Rogue glared at him. "Isn't that what 'sneaking out' generally means?" She snarked.

Remy bit back a second laugh. This was turning out to be more fun than he'd expected.

"BUT YOU RAN OFF WITH GAMBIT!" Kurt yelled again, clearly not able to get past that point. Scott and several others nodded in agreement.

Rogue's temper snapped in return. "They were gonna _kill_ him! And Ah didn't sneak off _with_ Gambit! He didn't even know Ah was coming!" She gestured sharply in his direction with her right hand.

"Really Kurt, you make it sound like they ran off to get married or something," Kitty interjected from the sidelines. "She just went to warn him. If you'd bothered to go by the computer lab you'd have found the note she left saying why she'd gone and where."

Scott jumped into the fray. "Wait a minute! You knew? That's why you and Piotr were sneaking around?"

"Like, of course I knew! I was the one who realized she was missing!" She said heatedly, but then her voice softened slightly. "But I read the file. She really needed to warn him, Scott. And it wasn't like she could have just called him. So I bought her some time, I figured she'd be back by the end of the day. I didn't know this was going to turn into a, like huge covert operation." Kitty's hand gestured largely while she spoke.

"Enough." Xavier's voice was calm but demanded silence. "We're not here to debate the merits of Rogue's decision to leave without telling anyone. We simply want to know what happened. Rogue, please continue."

Shrugging her shoulders moodily, Rogue resumed speaking. "Ah used one of the fake ID and credit card sets to book a flight to New Orleans. Ah left the note, which Kitty found," she tossed a small smile to her friend," and left. Ah got there at dawn, so Ah had to wait around all day at one of the only places Ah knew Gambit liked to hang out at. Ah finally ran into his brother around dinner time. They took me to see Gambit. Ah explained to him what Ah'd found, and then figured Ah'd leave. But Ah'd shown up in the middle of some big Guild peace treaty, and they wouldn't let me leave until both Guilds had verified the information."

"I have a question." Scott asked when she paused, his voice unnaturally calm. "How do we know this wasn't some ploy to get you to go to him and help him with some problem? He's manipulated you before."

That grated on Remy's nerves. If Scooter wanted to call him out for what happened last time, fine. But there was no reason to throw it in Rogue's face too. Yes, he'd played her. That spoke badly of him, not her. Not willing to let that go, he entered the conversation. "I didn't know she was comin'. Not her fault, but she walked in at one hell of time. Both Guilds have a lot riding on the peace accord between them. She could very easily have started a war comin' when she did. I wouldn't knowingly put that burden on her shoulders."

Scott opened his mouth to protest, but Logan cut him off. "He's telling the truth, Shades. It was dumb luck that Rogue's the one who found that file. And she was right about the warning. Sinister was dealing with some very dangerous people. He needed to know." He turned, not entirely letting Rogue off the hook. "But so did we, Stripes. Next time you tell someone _before_ you leave."

Rogue nodded slightly at Logan's chastisement and started to continue when Gambit interrupted. "How is it you know about the Marauders?" he asked Logan. It was something he'd been wondering about but hadn't had time to address.

Logan shifted uncomfortably and began explaining about his encounters with Arclight several summers previously in Ottawa. Gambit listened closely, not liking what he heard, particularly the information about the impossible to find buyer in the Far East. Logan finished his short explanation by looking at Scott, anticipating his questions before it was directly asked. "I didn't take the team because if they don't already know about us, I wasn't going to give them a chance to find out. We have too many young kids here. Taking the team would be broadcasting that. And most of the team needed to be here to protect the mansion and the people we rescued in case Essex had other cronies who were coming after us."

Remy watched the X-Men team commander take that in, clearly not liking that he'd been kept in the dark, but unable to argue with the reasoning.

"You think Arclight is still in the business of slaving?" Scott asked Logan, his attention turning away from Gambit and onto the new threat.

Remy answered before Logan could. "Scalphunter used a small caliber bullet when he shot Rogue." Several pairs of eyes widened at that statement, but he continued before the group could get derailed. "The range was too close for him to miss on accident. He shot to wound, not kill. He wanted her alive for something. Whether it was for Sinister or someone else, I don't know."

"Sinister." Rogue stated flatly, and Remy turned to face her, taking in the flat, unfocused look in her eyes as she sifted through Arclight's memories. Finding it slightly unnerving to watch her do that Remy surreptitiously took hold of her right hand and gave it a squeeze. Rogue returned the gesture as she continued to talk. "They planned to give me as to him as a bonus when they made the drop off. They were pretty certain he would want to study me given what they knew I could do."

"How did they know about your mutation?" Jean asked, watching both of them carefully.

Rogue squirmed as she answered. "Part of the whole 'Guild Peace Treaty' was an agreement that all the Guild leader's kids would play nice. The son of the Assassin's leader picked a fight with Gambit for being a mutant. But he shot him full of drugs as he issued the challenge. Ah don't know all the rules, but if you're challenged to a fight, _you_ have to fight. So Ah absorbed Gambit and fought as him. Julien would have killed him otherwise."

"Fine, but how did the two Marauders find out about your powers?" Jean asked again, wanting a clear answer to her question.

Gambit answered. "The Guilds made it look like Rogue had come to New Orleans to hire me for a job and that we'd left after the fight because of that. There was no way the Marauders wouldn't have heard about her fightin' and how she'd taken my place when they came around looking for me. Too many people saw it happen."

Scott glowered at him. "Just how concerned do we need to be that the Guilds know about Rogue's powers?"

Gambit gave him an even stare. "With the peace accord as fragile as it is neither Guild is going to risk pullin' another party into the mix anytime soon. If she stays out of New Orleans she should be safe enough."

"That doesn't exactly make me feel any better. Both times Rogue has gone to New Orleans, it's been because of you," Scott replied darkly.

Gambit smirked and answered lackadaisically. "Guess it's a good thing I'm stayin' here then, non?"

Scott's glare clearly said he didn't agree. And the death glare Rogue was sending him told him he was in for a beating from her in the future. He knew she didn't blindly follow anyone. He just liked getting Scott's goat.

Xavier intervened before Scott could retaliate. "Given that both Scalphunter and Arclight, as well as Sinister himself, are now in the custody of SHIELD, do you feel that the treat has been neutralized, Logan?"

Gambit has his own opinions on the subject, but kept them to himself as Logan considered before answering.

"Assuming SHIELD can hold them? Maybe. It bothers me big time that Arclight was still…around to pose a threat. She should have been neutralized after the last time I saw her." Logan, leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table as he answered, carefully phrasing his words to avoid coming out and telling the younger kids that he'd intentionally killed Arclight. "While Stripes was out helpin' Gumbo, Half Pint and the Tin Man went through the rest of the files we brought back. As of when I left they hadn't found any references to any other Marauders who'd been on the payroll recently. Based on the data we've found it looks like we shut him down." He raised an eyebrow at Kitty and waited for her confirm his data.

"Acutally, we just found something new this morning. I was suspicious because it didn't look like he'd contacted _anyone_ other than Scalphunter and Arclight in the last few months. But several of our rescued guests said they were attacked and pulled in within the last few weeks. Obviously someone was bringing Essex new test subjects." Kitty gestured as she spoke, making it clear she knew Sinister was hiding something from her.

"So this morning I dug around and Pete and I finally found that Essex had a program that ran a DOD grade file shredding algorithm on a set of files as soon as any of the external alarms were tripped. It got through all the files it was supposed to through but one since I didn't get to his computers until after we'd taken out him and moved out all of his prisoners. And since it was the last file on his list, there wasn't much. But I did find references to payments made to two people in response to the arrival of new test subjects. I don't know who they are, but hopefully the bank numbers can help us figure that out."

Gambit watched carefully as the X-Men took in the information as he mentally geared up for the next part of the conversation. If he was going to be a part of the X-Men that meant occasionally sharing information gathered during his previous adventures. They already knew he'd been forced to work for Sinister, and neither Logan nor Rogue had given any indication that it was a problem. Time to see if the others were as willing to let it go.

Drawing in a quick breath, Remy spoke. "Used to be Harpoon and Vertigo who worked the New York lab. Makin'em too dizzy to stay conscious or stabbin'em with charged metal spears to knock'em out. That jive with the descriptions of the attackers from your rescued pin cushions?"

Hank was the one who answered, a faint look of surprise on his face. "Why yes, that matches several descriptions. I gather that they were also used as guards for the facility from time to time. But our guests didn't have names for them, and all of their descriptions were rather discombobulated."

Gambit nodded. "Sounds about right." He paused for a moment and then continued, laying out what little bit he'd of information he'd gleaned before leaving Sinister's employment. "Sinister used to have separate labs. He kept'em separate cause the research was different, and it made'em harder to trace. Used different groups of Marauders for the different labs; don't know if they knew about each other or not. I know he kept a lab in Paris. I don't know where the other labs are or even how many he had in total. But I know there was at least one more, besides Paris."

Xavier looked at him with interest. "Do you know what areas of research Sinister was focused on?"

Gambit answered haltingly, trying to dig the details of the heists out of his memory. "I remember pullin' cell samples on several sets of twins from a Belgian university, blood samples from a private Canadian hospital, research documents from a Swiss pharmaceutical company. Don't remember a pattern to what I was asked to take. Just seemed like random stuff…" He trailed off still not able to find a set pattern to the data he'd collected.

Scott spoke, his gaze weary, as though he was trying to decide if Gambit was being honest or setting them up. "How did you find out about the lab in Paris? There aren't any references to other labs in the files Kitty's gone through."

Gambit smirked to himself. Scooter was giving him a chance to offer a reasonable explanation. "It was a weird job all the way around. Usually, Sinister sent me a request for something with detailed information on where it was and a delivery date to New York that was rushed, but accounting for international travel times and some reasonable reconnaissance."

He shook his head slightly, uncertain of why Sinister had changed the pattern for that one drop. "But the Swiss data was something he needed almost overnight. Said there was no way he could wait for me to get it back to New York and then have someone get the data to him. So I met Arclight at a warehouse in Paris and gave her the files there. I wouldn't have known about the Paris lab or the other Marauders if it wasn't for that. But whatever he needed it for, it was more important than security at that point." Gambit shrugged, "I met with Arclight and Scalphunter there a few more times to drop things off. Guess he figured since I already knew it didn't matter if I went back. Made the last drop before joinin' up with Magneto there."

Xavier called up a map of New York City and located the lab where they had found Sinister. "Is this the same location he was using when you went to him originally?"

Remy focused on the map for a quick second. "Non. That ain't anywhere near where it was when I was the one bein' worked on. But then I'd assume he moved _everythin'_ after I disappeared if he thought there was any chance I knew about it."

Xavier nodded thoughtfully before speaking. "Given what was written in your file, Essex knew you were opposed to his practices. And he had no way of knowing if you had disappeared along with someone who would help you run him to ground."

Gambit nodded, slightly uncomfortable with the number of people who had read Sinister's file on him. People knowing that level of detail about him made him edgy.

Scott spoke, the edge in his voice making it obvious that whatever knowledge or skill Gambit brought to the team it didn't erase his past sins against the team. "Did you bother to tell _anyone_ about Essex, or did you just leave it all behind when you left?"

Gambit bristled, but before he could answer Hank intervened. "Our tip about Essex came from Magneto, Scott." At the surprised look on the faces of nearly all the X-Men, he continued quietly. "Sometimes the most one can do in a situation is survive to tell the tale and wait until additional resources can be found."

Gambit eyed the big blue mutant in surprise. He hadn't expected _any_ of the X-Men to understand that his only two options with Sinister had been endure or escape. He alone hadn't been a position to do much of anything to Sinister. Not at nineteen with no help from any direction and his status with the Guild rocky at best given his frequent unexplained disappearances when we was forced to work as a Marauder.

Gambit glanced slightly at Rogue when she tightened her grip on his hand. It was a small gesture, but he appreciated it none the less.

Jean pulled the group back on topic. "Gambit, why do you think Essex had another lab in addition to the ones in New York and Paris?"

He shrugged lazily, shaking off his discomfort. "Heard Essex talking with Arclight once. They didn't realize I'd arrived for the drop off. He was sayin' somethin' about how if Scrambler couldn't get things settled, he'd have to send her back there. Don't know where "there" was, but Arclight didn't seem all that thrilled at the idea of goin' back."

Xavier turned his head to face him. "Gambit, how involved were you in Magneto's hunt for Sinister? I'd imagine with your _unique talents_ you'd have been quite the asset."

"He was focused on other things when I was there. I didn't bring up Sinister until just after he'd starting hunting Apocalypse." Before anyone could jump in with an outraged 'why?' Remy continued. "I had to make sure he was the right kind of person to tell first."

Xavier smiled in understanding. "But you are familiar with following money trails?"

Remy smirked. "I'm familiar with ways to disguise and move money. But Sinister has always been good at hiding things. I've looked into a few things here and there, but I'm not an expert on international banking and corporate law." He didn't mention that the Guild had people who were. "To really hunt him, I'll have to find someone who is. Might take me a few weeks to find someone I trust to do it right and keep quiet about it."

Xavier grinned. "I have just the person for you." At Remy's dubious look, his grin widened. "Welcome to the X-Men, Mr. LeBeau. Consider hunting Sinister your first task."

* * *

><p>Rogue kept to herself as she walked from her room down the hall to the room Remy would be sharing with Piotr. It was no small task since Kitty, Amara, Jubilee, and even Jean were all extremely curious about her relationship with the Cajun. Naturally curious and long standing romance enthusiasts, they had all kinds of questions that Rogue neither wanted nor was ready to answer. Spotting Kitty topping the stairs with Tabby, Rogue picked up her pace and ducked quickly inside the door.<p>

"Been missin' me, chèrie?" Remy asked with a sly grin at her abrupt entrance.

Rogue glared at him, mentally swearing at the blush on her cheeks. "A'm avoidin' Kitty," she snapped.

Piotr just started laughing. "I think that you are fighting a losing battle, Rogue. She has been waiting for you to return since she found you missing."

Rogue grumbled and gave the big Russian a halfhearted glare. He just smiled at her, while Remy snickered at the two of them.

She found it mentally odd to have Gambit in the mansion laughing and at her and Piotr. The mix of normal and everyday with the roller coaster of the last few days was slightly jarring.

"The professor give you a clean bill of mental health?" Remy asked, unpacking the last of his meager pile of clothing in his new dresser.

Rogue nodded, leaning against the foot of Piotr's bed. "Arclight's behavin' for now. But he wants to keep an eye on her. He thinks somethin's a little off about her mind, but he doesn't want to provoke her psyche if she's stayin' put."

Remy nodded, continuing to organize his new room. "Probably a good idea. What's in her head ain't gonna be for the faint of heart."

Rogue nodded slightly, not really listening to him, trying to chase down and name the elusive description of what she felt when she thought of Arclight. Light headed… Disjointed… Confused… Slightly overwhelmed… "Dizzy," she said softly, finally settling for the word, even though it wasn't quite right.

"Qu'avez-tu dit?" Remy asked, not having heard her as he put the sheets Storm had given him on the bed.

Rogue shook her head to clear it, returning here attention to him. "She makes me feel….dizzy. That's the best word Ah can come up with. What did you ask me?"

Remy looked amused at her lack of French knowledge. "I asked what you said."

"Oh." Rogue gave him a slightly sheepish smirk, making him laugh. Glancing around, she noticed Piotr had slipped out while she'd been digging through her psyches. The room was roughly the same size as her own, but since neither Remy nor Piotr were small, the room felt a bit cramped. At least the situation wasn't permanent. Just until the mansion's post-rescue population thinned a bit. "You gonna be able to handle having Pete as a roommate for a while?" she asked teasingly.

"If I have to share with one of the guys, Piotr's the best choice." The wicked grin Remy gave her sent a flash of nervousness through her. "And Pete don't steal the covers. Unlike my last roommate."

Rogue looked around frantically to make sure no one had heard what he'd said, well aware of the blush on her cheeks. "Swamp Rat!" And unable to let his comment go she hissed out, "Ah don't steal the covers!"

Remy laughed out right as he stepped toward her, his grin lingering as he pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her waist. "So much fun makin' you blush," he said, clearly enjoying the reactions he was getting from her.

Rogue glared, feeling the dreaded blush deepen even as something warm tingled inside her at his words. "Ah hate you," she grumbled, her voice and grip on his coat collar clearly defying her words and making him laugh again.

Pulling her a few steps back toward his side of the room, Remy used a piece of her hair to gently lift her chin, making her look at him. "I don't mind roomin' with Pete for a while. But I am gonna miss havin' you in my bed."

"Remy", her voice trailed off in a mixture of exasperation, annoyance, and embarrassment. She didn't quite know how to answer him when he phrased it that way. His easy slide from teasing to sexy and back again was something foreign to her. She was still adjusting to the idea of the two of them in a relationship. Sexy _anything_ was so far outside the realm of her reality that even his teasing threw her for a loop. She supposed part of adjusting to dating him would be learning to mellow a little about his sexy jokes. Or get him to stop making them, but she had a feeling she would sooner grow to love New England winters before that happened.

His smile softened into something warm. "I am gonna miss sleepin' beside ya, Rogue. Smellin' your hair when I wake up, stealin' back the covers in the middle of the night."

Rogue smiled, a different blush heating her cheeks now. "Me too, Swamp Rat," she answered softly. She glanced up at him, the tingles growing a little stronger at the warmth in his eyes. "It was kinda nice havin' ya for my pillow," she teased.

Remy tightened his grip around her waist in response, smirking at her joke. "Cute, chèrie." He let her go and moved to finish putting the sheets on his bed. He stopped for a moment, taking in the room and then letting his eyes linger on her as she leaned against the door jamb of his closet. "Feels kinda strange bein' here like this."

Rogue smirked. "Joinin' forces with the enemy?"

Remy smirked back before returning to his semi-serious train of thought. "Not so much that, but workin' for Magneto was business. Always. This… feels different." He shrugged languidly, not putting any real effort into finding a better description for it.

Rogue nodded, distinctly remembering sitting in the X-Jet half frozen and asking Logan if he'd throw her out of the plane if she didn't join their side. It had taken her a while to realize they were willing to help her and care about her, make her a part of their family, without demanding a price for it. "It takes a while to get used to it all," she said.

Remy snorted. "A while is right. Especially with that lovely little assignment your Professor just handed me. Nothin' like settin' the bar high."

Rogue smirked at him. "You sayin' you can't do it, even with Warren helpin' you?"

He tossed her a glare. "I hope your pretty flyboy knows what he's about, chèrie. The last time I worked on tracking Sinister I lost him in a series of shell companies with banks in the Cayman's and addresses listed in mainland China and Dubai. Very interestin' legal system in China."

Rogue rolled her eyes. "I should've known you'd gotten farther than you let on, Swamp Rat."

He smirked humorlessly. "This ain't gonna be a quick project, Rogue. We have the bank accounts from where he paid Scalphunter and Arclight, and some accounts that he _might_ have used for Vertigo and Harpoon. That ain't much, chèrie."

"You already complainin' about how long you're gonna be here?" Rogue asked, proud of herself for making the question sound casual and off-handed, for keeping her body language calm. But she still saw the realization snap in his eyes.

"Non, chèrie. Just that this will be a long term project. We'll be measurin' success in millimeters, not miles. Not sure all of your team realizes that." Remy carelessly tossed the two pillows on top of the comforter, walking toward her, wrapping his arm around her waist and gently tugging her to follow him.

"Your team now, too," Rogue answered, pushing her instinctive defensive reaction away as she grasped his meaning, leaning slightly into him as they headed downstairs, Remy's hand on her lower back.

Remy smiled at her. "Yeah. My team too." He paused for a moment before adding "Still gonna miss sleepin' with you though."

* * *

><p>"Swamp Rat!"<p>

Piotr merely raised an eyebrow, deciding it was safer not to ask why a blushing Rogue had felt the need to punch a grinning Gambit in the gut as they descended the stairs together. He had the distinct feeling that having both of them under the same room was going to result in many similar moments. It would be best for his mental health if he started ignoring them now.

* * *

><p>The End. No hating on Scott too much. He's had a rough day. He'll come around...<p>

_I've already started working on the sequel. I laid out all the key plot points and scenes while my hair color was processing yesterday. That's a good way to get funny looks at a salon. Start mumbling to yourself about mutants and Sinister while scribbling notes. I hope to start actually writing this shortly, but I may not get much done until after finals the first week in May. So please bear with my delays, but feel free to send me a shout out and remind me to keep working on this! Thank you all so much for all your reviews and favorites and alerts. You guys (gals) are so awesome. I couldn't have gotten through all this without you. _

_ Layla_


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